[7 b i ; : t | ¢ contimued, although some dyspnea was observed in 2 patients. From davs 14-1 to 168. the 3 remaining patients made little change. Two of the 3 remained in satisfactory condition, with normal appetites and near-normal gas- trointestinal activity. Only occasionally did they vomit small amounts of par- tially digested food material. These 2 dogs were released for duty on day 168, hring the total of recovered patients to 8. The 1 remaining patient had made no improvement in his ability to control his rear legs. This dog was kept on a “medi- cal hold”? for further observation, but he was euthanatized on day 240, because of lack of progress. Necropsy revealed dif- fuse gastritis; gross lesions were not visible in the central nervous system. Of the 24 dogs that were involved dur. ing the 240 davs of treatment and obser- M vation, 8 patients recovered completely, if patients died, and 2 wore euthana- tized. i) AN Discussion | The purpose of this clinical report is to present observations and to relate how the problem was handled under combat conditions. With a limited field labora- tary service, only the essential laboratory analyses were made on each patient. Differential diagnosis posed a problem. One week before the ist dog became ill, there had been periods of cold rains. Dur- ing the first few days of illness, specific ditgnosis could not be taade, bat the iHness: was thought to be infectious pos. troenterilis, initiated by stress from the changing weather. The carly history was not immediately available to the author, because he was assigned to the unit after the time the dogs were dipped in the malathion solution. When the informia- tion about the dipping became known, a tentative diagnosis based on clinical signs and history was made. With the exception of the extended duration, the clinical signs scemed quite typical of oreanophosphate toxicity, Since Toatt S absorbed tom at body sur- faces, the duration of illness might have been shortened if éach animal had. been completely clipped before being washed with soap and water. ‘ An additional problem was that. of treatinent. Treatinent was directed in +t general areas: (1) Remove: the unab- sorbed toxicant by giving a soapy bath; (2) reactivate the inactivated cholines- terase with svidine-2-aldoxime—toxic amounts of organic phosphate compounds cause a marked decrease in cholinesterase activity, thus allowing the effects of acetylcholine to be prolonged: (3) block the excessive cholinergic response by the use of atropine sulfate—each dose of atropine sulfate. was calculated on ‘the basis of 0.1 ing./ke. of body weight tid: and (4) give symptomatic treatmant as needed to control secondary complica- tions. Seasonal Variations in Canine Blood Packed ples obtained from normal control dogs were higher in winter than in summer. cell volumes and hemoglobin values of blood sam- significantly These differences appeared to be associated with seasonal variations in temperature and “sunlight.—S, Potkay (April, 1969): 192. and R. D. Zinn in Lab. Anim. Care, 19,