Review of some of the recent advances in tropical medicine, hygiene and veterinary science, with special reference to their possible bearing on medical, sanitary and veterinary work in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan : being a supplement to the Third Report of the Wellcome Research Laboratories at the Gordon Memorial College Khartoum / by Andrew Balfour and R. G. Archibald.

  • Balfour, Andrew.
Date:
1908
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Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Review of some of the recent advances in tropical medicine, hygiene and veterinary science, with special reference to their possible bearing on medical, sanitary and veterinary work in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan : being a supplement to the Third Report of the Wellcome Research Laboratories at the Gordon Memorial College Khartoum / by Andrew Balfour and R. G. Archibald. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    if not identical with, that described by Vincent, but notes certain difi'erences between his Spirochaetes three tonsillar cases and those described by that author. These were :— and Spiro- 1. Foeter was evident in Vincent's cases, while this was absent in all enumerated in Bousfield's article. 2. Vincent's cases were practically all unilateral, while of Bousfield's, two ^'^'^ out of three were bilateral. This point is of importance, for H. W. Bruce states that mild cases are invariably unilateral. 3. Vincent mentions that bacilli fusiformes were sometimes unassociated with spirochaetiB and often outnumbered them. In these cases the two were always associated with one another, and the spirochaetse usually enormously outnumbered the bacilli. 4. Pyogenic cocci were almost invariably present in Vincent's cases, while in several cases of this series the infection was practically pure with spirochaetae and bacilli fusiformes. 5. Vincent mentions extension to the soft palate and uvula, and in none of Bousfield's cases was this present, perhaps owing to the cases being seen early in their course. 6. Vincent makes no remark about the urine, but Bruce mentions albuminuria in one out of ten of his cases. Albumin was present in two out of three cases of tonsillitis mentioned in Bousfield's article. Some of the latter's cases showed ulcers in the buccal cavity. Bousfield has also found spirochaetes in destructive ulcer of the penis along with B. fusifomiia and cocci. Schellach^* has made important researches on the spirilla of European, African and American relapsing fever. In order to obtain exactly comparative results, very careful precautions were taken by the author, the spirilla being observed in the living state always in the first stage of injection in rats, mice and monkeys, while the stains and fixations employed were alwaj's apf)lied under uniform conditions. The flexibility and activity of movement of the Russian species arc greater than in the American, but less than in the African species. Very exact details are given of the length and regularity of the spirals, and the characters of the motion, corkscrew-wise, lateral bending, bending through a circular arc, and the spieeial movements of the ends of the spirals. The thickness of these species is especially difficult to measure, but the author gives the diameter in microns as 0-45, 0-31 and 0-39 for the African, American and Russian forms, respectively, in specimens stained by Giemsa's method. The African form is about 24 H at the most, with 8 to 12 undulations; the American, 17 to 20 n with 6 to 8 undulations; and the Russian, 19 to 29 ju, with 8 to 10 undulations. In spirochaetes, whose vitality has been diminished by washing and ccntrifuging, or by prolonged keeping in serum, the spirals are more rigid and regular, and seem dependent on the structure of the organism. The author believes that in all three forms transverse division is the only method; Y-shaped forms are exceptional, and can only be regarded as an apj)earance due to commencing division. Forms may also be met with still, joined by a thin filament of protoplasm, with, for example, in .S'. duttoni, only four to six, or half the adult number of undulations, whereas the full number of turns would be preserved if the method of division were longitudinal. One of the ends of the spirochjetes terminates in a filiform prolongation some five yU long, which grows as the rest of the organism does, while the other, though pointed, ends abrui:)tly. The existence of a lateral membrane could not be verified in either species; like Primkel, he was able to demonstrate lateral cilia by Zettnow's method, but considers them to be the artificial result of the numerous washings, centrifugings, etc., involved in the method. Deep staining by Giemsa's method brings out certain coloured granules, but no difference between the species could be demonstrated in this respect. Lastly, some six pages are devoted to the distribution of the jDarasites in the organs and tissues of infected rats, and the conclusion is reached that, unlike S. imlUda, which is a tissue parasite, the spirochaetes of relapsing fever are true hsematozoa. These bring about necrosis of the liver and spleen, but in the intervals between the attacks are not quartered specially in the spleen, but equally divided amongst the organs generally. Like Manteufel, he is sceptical as to the destruction of the parasites taking place by phagocytes, but states that extra-cellular destruction is efiected in the liver and spleen. Lebert proposed, in 1874, the name of Protoniycetuiii recurrentis for the Russian species, while Colin, in 1875, proposed that of (S'. obermeieri. According to the rules of nomenclature, therefore, the name should stand as >S'. recurrentis (Lebert). The African species should stand as S. dutloni (Novy), while for the American the author proposes S. novyi, which, if accepted, would thus stand S. nov;/i (Schellach). Manteufel,-* working with the spirilla of relapsing fever, found apparently that the spirochaetes can penetrate the shaven hut unbroken skin of a rat and produce infection. He conducted agglutination experiments and found that, contrary to what is seen in bactericidal infections, a serum which is extremely active in agglomerating living and active spirilla is quite inert in the case of the same spirilla which have been killed by heating to 45° C. 1 Schellach, C. (1907), Morphological Researches on the Spirilla of European, African and American Relapsing Fever. Arb. a. d. Kaiscrl Gesundheitsamte, Bd. XXVII., Heft. 2. Quoted in Journal of Tropical Medicine and Ryrjiene, March 16th, 1908, Vol. XI. * Loe. cit.