Jan. 20, 1923 
Carbon Tetrachlorid as an Anthelmintic 
183 
Heifer No. 1009, a clinical case of hookworm disease, was off feed for 
the period following treatment, but the animal was killed too soon 
to determine whether it would have returned to good condition 
and shown any benefit from the treatment. Heifer No. 1002, also a 
clinical case of hookworm disease, went down following the treatment 
and was found dead the morning of the post-mortem examination. 
Evidently the treatment was not very well tolerated by these animals. 
Post mortem, heifer No. 1002 showed the following: Some ecchymotic 
areas in the small intestine and cecum and a pronounced gelatinous 
infiltration about the stomach and large intestine; kidneys and liver 
apparently normal; urinary bladder slightly congested and containing a 
quantity of mucus; hemorrhagic areas on the heart, with some evidence 
of degeneration of the heart muscle. While some of these lesions may 
have been associated with the use of carbon tetrachlorid, it is also true 
that they may have been associated with the hookworm infestation. 
These animals were from a herd that had lost a number of animals from 
hookworm disease and some of the lesions are those associated with an 
anemic condition. The gelatinous infiltration about the stomach and 
large intestine is a condition more readily associated with long-standing 
anemia and edema than with a toxic action extending over a period of 
four days. However, the safety of the drug in the doses given is open to 
question under the circumstances until further investigations have been 
carried out. From the findings in the case of sheep, it seems reasonable 
to conclude that ruminants will not tolerate carbon tetrachlorid to the 
same extent that carnivores will and that the safety factor is much smaller. 
The doses used in the case of these two heifers were at a rate of approxi¬ 
mately 0.88 cc. and 1.25 cc. per kilo, a very low rate by comparison with 
that tolerated by dogs. 
Dr. W. A. Barnette writes in a letter of October 3, 1922: 
It seems to me from what few clinic cases I have tried carbon tetrachloride on that I 
am getting excellent results, giving to yearlings one-half ounce in a half pint of olive 
oil, and to cows weighing from 700 to 800 pounds 1 ounce in 1 pint of olive oil. 
Dr. W. K. Lewis writes in a letter of October 16, 1922: 
A few days since we treated 19 head of cattle, consisting of 9 adults and 10 calves 
and yearlings, for stomach worms, using carbon tetrachlorid in capsules. The dosage 
for the adults averaged about 22 cc. Within 36 hours 4 head of adults were dead, all 
the adult animals becoming sick, while none of the yearlings and calves were affected 
The dosage for the yearlings and calves was relatively higher than for the adults, one 
heifer having been given 10,5 cc. These animals were kept off feed for 24 hours 
before treatment and were allowed to graze about one-half to three-fourths hour after 
treatment. They were taken off feed again in about 1 hour to be milked and again 
turned on feed. One or two of the animals showed some bloating, but the others 
showed only a listless appearance until they would get down and appeared to be in 
pain, dying within a few hours. There was no bowel action from any of the cows 
that died and the survivors were very slow to respond to salts. 
Post-mortem on one of the animals showed considerable food in the rumen, which 
had a sour fermented odor; there was no evidence of inflammation in the intestinal 
organs, only the entire mesenterium contained a large amount of coagulated jelly- 
like blood serum. From the lesions we thought that we got a local anesthesia of the 
intestinal tract and the animals died from autointoxication. 
It is difficult to account for the results obtained in Doctor Lewis’s 
cases. As a rule, anthelmintics and most other drugs are more toxic for 
young animals than for mature animals, and this appears to be true for 
carbon tetrachlorid. The doses used by Doctor Barnette were larger 
than those used by Doctor Lewis and were followed by good results 
clinically. The doses used by us were distinctly larger and the smaller 
