THE TUBERCULIN TEST.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1717, 7 April 1913, Page 8

THE TUBERCULIN TEST.

WHAT IS IT? (( .Tnc|uiry is made "by a corespondent, "Cocky," for a description ol' tuberculin anil the test. Tuberculin is a glycerine extract of pure cultivations of the tubercle bacilli tillered through porcelain to deprive it of tho organisms Utemselves. ■ In ilkform employe:! for injection under the skin of boviuos, it i>.' diluted with ten times its hulk of u watery solution of carbolic r..cid of the strength of half per cent. H produces a mild febrile attack, sometimes called reaction fever. It is important to ascertain the temperature of the animal to l>e tested on at least two occasions previous to inoculation, or tho results may be vitiated. A rise of temperature usually takes place between the twelfth and fifteenth hours, but the clinical thermometer should be used between the ninth, twelfth, fifteenth, and eighteenth hours, and the temperature recorded. A slight rise 'only may ho inconclusive, tut an increase of two or three degrees will almost certainly indicate the disease. The neck is the most convenient part in which to insert the hypodermic needle, but the loose skin behind tho elbow will do as well. Tuberculin testing, however, should bo left to the professional man as it requires experience to reiulMe symptoms correctly, and tho professional man's certificate alono is of value.