Abstract
A total of 236 dogs of 20 breeds, in which a positive diagnosis of filariasis had been made at the out-patient clinic, were treated with dichlorophenarsine hydrochloride (0.75mg. AS/kg daily for two consecutive days).
1. Emesia, nausea, and shock occurred several to 30 minutes after injection, in 51.6 and 36.9 per cent of the medicated dogs after the first and second dose were given, respectively. Emesia and nausea were transient. Shock appeared in 1.2 per cent of the dogs, the two injections combined, and brought about a fatality rate of 0.8 per cent.
2. This treatment caused no liver dysfunction nor any toxic symptom related to it.
3. One or two weeks after treatment worms were expelled and induced embolism of the pulmonary artery in 28.9 per cent of the treated dogs, 7.6 per cent of which was fatal. The occurrence of the embolism and that of fatal cases increased in frequency parallel with the advance in course of disease.
4. Deaths from embolism of the pulmonary artery occurred more frequently in a four-month period beginning with November than in the other months. During that period 20.8 per cent of the medicated dogs succumbed.
5. Within two months after treatment, death rate was 1.9 per cent among dogs of stage I of disease, 5.6 per cent among those of stage II, 7.0 per cent among those of stage III, and 53.3 per cent among those of stage IV. From these results, it has become possible to predict the rate of risk attending the treatment of particular dogs when these dogs can be classified by the stage of filariasis.
