Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the EctozoaCobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Science
Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the Ectozoa
Cobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Helminths; Parasites
“Recovery from these phases of trichinal infection may be apparently
perfect. A rabbit which M. Davaine kept during five months became large
and fat, although it had a large number of Trichinæ in its muscles;
a rat which had had these entozoa in considerable numbers during six
months was, to all appearance, in good health. Hence he concludes that
the Trichinæ produce symptoms only when they are in the intestinal
canal, and when they are entering the muscles. Having become lodged in
their cysts among the muscular fibres, they may remain harmless for an
indefinite time. In every case except one, down to 1859, Trichinæ have
been found in the bodies of persons who have died of disease (generally
chronic) or by accident; or in the dissecting-room, in bodies regarding
which the previous history could not be obtained. In most cases the
cysts contained a cretaceous or fatty deposit, showing that they had
probably existed several years.
“The observations which have been made on the human subject, in regard
to the symptoms caused by Trichinæ, show that they belong, as in
animals, to the initial period of infection. They consist in intestinal
and in muscular lesions; the latter coincide with the entrance of the
parasite into the muscles, and are truly traumatic. In Zenker’s case
the intestinal symptoms were swelling and pain; in a case described
by Friedreich diarrhœa was present. In all cases the most remarkable
symptoms were violent rheumatoid pains in the muscles, not in the
joints, which were considerably aggravated by attempts to extend the
half-bent limbs. The other symptoms have been variable, but have had a
strong resemblance to those of typhoid fever. In several cases there has
been abundant sweating; and in one there was a very remarkable miliary
and furuncular eruption. The animal heat was diminished in Friedreich’s
case; and in those observed in Voigtland by Freytag the temperature
never exceeded 102° Fahr.
“The progress, duration, and severity of the disease in man are in
relation to the number of Trichinæ taken into the digestive canal. Of
sixteen patients observed at Plauen by Drs Böhler and Königsdörffer,
eight, who were moderately affected, recovered in a month; four, more
severely diseased, were ill two months; of four others, one died with
ascites and colliquative diarrhœa at the end of two months, and three
recovered slowly at the end of three or four months. Recovery does not
imply the death of the Trichinæ, it follows their enclosure in cysts.
“The diagnosis of trichinal infection has several times been made in the
living human subject by removing a portion of muscle. M. Davaine thinks
it probable that, during the first six or eight weeks of the disease,
the diagnosis may be confirmed by searching for adult Trichinæ in the
alvine evacuations, produced naturally or by means of a purgative.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account