PARASITES IN CARCASES OF BUFFALOES. 
65 
REPORT ON PARASITES IN 
AT THE COLOMBO 
THE CARCASES OF BUFFALOES 
SLAUGHTER HOUSE. 
CONTENTS. 
Page 
I.—Introduction ... ... ... 65 
II.—Identification of the Parasite ... ... 66 
III. —Growth of the Parasite ... ... 66 
IV. —Interdiction of infected carcases ... ... 68 
V.—Method of ascertaining the presence of the Parasite ... 68 
VI.—Diagnosis of the Disease ... ... 69 
VII.—Incidence of Sarcosporidiosis ... ... 69 
VIII.—Periodicity ... ... ... 70 
IX.—Dissemination of the Parasite ... ... 70 
X.—Vitality of the Spores of S. bubali ... ... 71 
XI.— -Sarcocystis as a Human Parasite ... ... 72 
rpHE Chairman of the Municipal Council of Colombo having 
reported that the carcases of many buffaloes slaughtered for 
meat in Colombo had been found to be infested with parasites in 
the muscular tissues, His Excellency the Governor appointed a 
Board in October, 1903, consisting of Dr. A. Willey, Director of 
the Colombo Museum; Dr. A. J. Chalmers, Registrar of the Ceylon 
Medical College; and Dr. W. M. Philip, Medical Officer of Health 
in the Colombo Municipality, to examine and report as to the 
nature of these parasites. 
The subjoined report was duly presented to Government, and 
is now published by permission of the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, 
in Spolia Zeylanica . 
I.—Introduction. 
It has been known for some years to the Government and 
Municipal Veterinary Surgeons and to the Superintendent of the 
Colombo Slaughter House, that the meat of country-bred buffaloes, 
and less commonly of Indian buffaloes, is sometimes tainted by the 
presence of white spindle-shaped parasitic bodies measuring from 
less than half an inch to more than an inch in length and about 
a quarter of an inch in diameter across the middle. These bodies 
lie in the midst of the muscles of which the beef is composed, 
that is to say, in the voluntary muscles of the body. 
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