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
“They were supposed to be watered at a trough with water drawn from a
well, but on closely inquiring as to this, it transpired that they very
frequently were taken to a large dirty tank near the yard for their
water. The question which occurred to me was, were the cattle infected
before their purchase by the Commissariat, or was there anything in
their feeding to account for it after purchase? I am inclined to the
latter opinion for several reasons, thus:--In the large number of
the diseased cattle, the Cysticerci were of remarkably small size;
many of them having no capsules, except such as were formed by the
surrounding structures, and not being more than 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch
in diameter. Although the dry food given to the cattle was doubtless
good, still much of the water they got during 1868 was probably filthy.
The tank previously referred to was situated close to the huts of the
camel drivers. These men are all Mussulmans from Cabul, Peshawur, or
thereabouts, and many of them are infected with _Tænia mediocanellata_.
Human filth was often to be seen on the banks of the tank, and
microscopic examination of mud and stagnant water taken from the margin
exhibited _Tænia_ ova.
“The conditions above shown must have been eminently favorable to
keeping up a constant supply of ova, and the fact that Cysticercus
entirely disappeared from amongst the cattle a few months after means
had been taken to secure them a good supply of well water, seems to
confirm the view that this tank must have been the source of a large
amount of, if not all, the infection.
“It has been suggested that Cysticercus can be detected before the
animal is killed by an examination of the tongue. In exceptionably
severe instances this is probably correct, but then it would be equally
observable in some other parts of the body. Major Biggs, Commissariat
Officer here, tells me of an animal he saw at Rawul Pindee, in which
immense clusters of cysts could be felt at the root of the tongue and
under the skin in several parts. After examining a very large number of
tongues of ‘cysted’ animals, my experience is that it is found in the
soft muscles and cellular tissues at the root of the tongue, perhaps
more frequently than anywhere else; but I have never seen a case in
which there was a chance of detecting it before death.
“The most common situations in which it has occurred in the ration meat
have been the gluteal, psoas, and lumbar regions. In many instances only
from one to ten cysts have been found on cutting the carcase into small
pieces, and I have no doubt that it often passed without detection.
“During 1868 and 1869 I from time to time obtained pieces of beef badly
infected with _Cysticercus_, and made some experiments as to the results
of its consumption under different conditions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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