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
The very peculiar and formidable helminthiasis produced by this
parasite has been thoroughly investigated by Griesinger and Bilharz,
and it has been fully described in the standard works of Küchenmeister
and Leuckart. My own case from Natal also supplied many interesting
clinical facts which were published in my ‘Lectures on Helminthology,’
quoted below. The comparative prevalence of this disorder in Egypt is
well established. Symptomatically, its principal feature consists in a
general disturbance of the uropoietic functions. Diarrhœa and hæmaturia
occur in advanced stages of the complaint, being also frequently
associated with the so-called Egyptian chlorosis, colicky pains, anæmia,
and great prostration of the vital powers. The true source of the
disorder, however, is easily overlooked unless a careful microscopic
examination be made of the urine and other evacuations. If blood be
mixed with these, and there also be a large escape of mucus, a minute
inspection of the excreta will scarcely fail to reveal the presence of
the characteristic ova of _Bilharzia_. Besides the increase of mucus
secretion, there may even be an escape of purulent matter, showing that
the disorder has far advanced. The patient’s constitution eventually
becomes undermined; pneumonia often sets in, and death finally ensues.
On making post-mortem examinations the following pathological facts come
to light. In cases where the disease has not advanced very far, minute
patches of blood-extravasation present themselves at the mucous surface
of the bladder, but in more strongly pronounced cases the patches
are larger or even confluent. In some instances there are villous
or fungus-like thickenings, ulceration and separation of portions of
the mucous membrane, with varying degrees of coloration, according to
the amount of the extravasation, which becomes converted into grey,
rusty-brown, or black pigment deposits. A gritty or sandy deposit is
often superimposed, consisting of ordinary lithic-acid grains mixed
with eggs and egg-shells. Eggs are readily detected in the urine, these
having escaped from the ruptured vesical vessels. The lining membranes
of the ureters and renal cavities are also more or less affected; the
kidneys being frequently enlarged and congested. It must, however, be
borne in mind that in all these organs the true seat of the disorder is
the blood, which forms the proper habitat of the _Bilharzia_; and this
being the case, the worms as well as their escaped eggs may be found
in any of the vessels supplying the diseased organs. In one instance,
quoted by Leuckart, Griesinger found a number of empty eggs in the left
ventricle of the heart, and from this circumstance it was supposed that
they might be carried into various important organs, or even plug up
the larger vessels. As before stated, however, the parasites are more
particularly prevalent in the vessels of the bladder, mesentery, and
portal system.
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