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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    Spirochaetes Leishman,i reviewing papers read at the Berlin International Congress of Hygiene, gives and Spiro- Doflein's views. The latter regards present staining methods as inadequate for pathogenic chaetosis— spirochcetes, and has not much belief in the reputed presence of a blepharoplast. He thinks continued spirocheetes vary as to their mode of multiplication, and he is inclined to class them in a special group, midway between the animal and the vegetable kingdoms, for which he suggests the name Proflagellata. Levaditi pointed out that all the pathogenic spirochaetes, except those of syphilis, yaws and a dermatosis of the pig, are the cause of true septicaemias. He thought their protozoal nature had not been proved, but was inclined to attach Some importance to the reported discovery of peritrichic fiagella in S. gallinarum and S. duttoni. As regards the mechanism of relapses, Levaditi held to the opinion long ago expressed by him that the crisis is due to phagocytosis of the spirochastae and their intra-cellular digestion, and not through the action of specific anti-bodies, which only make their appearance in the blood after the crisis is over. He pointed out that the spirochaetae did not, however, disappear entirely from the blood during the interval {see, however, special paper on Spirochaetosis of Fowls, Third Eeport), but that a few could always be found on careful search. He believed that such spirochaetae as had escaped destruction during the crisis had become immune to the action of the anti-bodies, and in this way were able to multiply and produce a second attack. He had found that such immune spirilla were able to transmit their powers of resistance to their progeny, because relapse-spirochaetae were found to preserve their resistance after several passages through susceptible animals. Vaccination can easily be produced in animals by the injection of killed spirochaetae, or of a non-lethal dose of living organisms. Preventive serum-therapy is also possible, because the serum of animals which had recovered was found to be strongly bactericidal and agglutinative. The reader may also consult a short French paper by Borrel,'-^ which discusses the relationship of the spirilla, spirochaetae and trypanosomes, and gives illustrations of the terminal flagella in 8. gallinarum and the so-called undulating membrane of S. halhiani. Passing from these more or less general papers, we may first consider papers on African Spirochaetosis, then take up the Indian, European and American varieties, in each instance citing observations as regards the vector, the parasite, the clinical symptoms, preventive measures and treatment. Koch's^ observations are thus summarised in the Medical Annual, 1907. He notes with regard to the habits of Ornithodoros moubata, which transmits the spirochaete (S. duttoni) of African tick fever, that it is exclusively a human tick. It is nocturnal in its habits, and after sucking blood, quickly hides again in the earth of the native huts or rest-houses. It likes dry soil, and in fact, if the earth is moist (as is the case when goats are brought inside the hut at night) no ticks are to be found. The African tick fever differs clinically from the European lapsing fever (8. ohermeieri) in the following points. In the European form the first attack lasts six to seven days ; then follows an apyrexia of five to six days, then a second somewhat shorter attack and a longer apyrexia of five to six days, then a second somewhat shorter attack and a longer apyrexia, and so on. In the African form, the maximum duration of the attack is three days and the apyrexia six to ten days. Again, in the African form the number of parasites may be extremely scanty, and thus difficult to find. It is advisable always to make a smear as large as a sixpence, dry thoroughly, dehaemoglobinise with water (without fixing), and then stain with gentian violet, five to ten minutes. Koch has found spirochaetes in about a quarter of the eggs up to the twentieth day of development of ticks which had sucked spirochaete blood. They can then be seen no longer, but must exist, as young ticks carry the infection. It is probable, indeed, that ticks in the young stage are by far the most infective (though adults also may convey the disease). Koch found infected ticks to occur in practically every hut examined, in a variable proportion, e.g. 7 to 50 per cent. In the huts, however, there are frequently no natives suffering from spirochaete fever. The question, therefore, arises, how do these ticks get their infection ? Various hypotheses are possible, of which only one may be mentioned here, viz., that rats contain spirochaetes, and that they may act somewhat as i^ats do in ^ Leishman, W. B. (April, 1908). Journal of the Royal Army Medical Gorps, Vol. X. 2 Borrel, A. (March 2nd, 1908), Spirilles, Spirochetes, Trypanosomes. Bidl. Soc. Path. Exot., Vol. I. ^ Koch, R. (February, 1906). Bcrl. Klin. Woeh.