The Animal Parasites of ManFantham, Harold Benjamin
Science
The Animal Parasites of Man
Fantham, Harold Benjamin
Medical parasitology
The easily deformed pear-shaped body has three free flagella
anteriorly, and an undulating membrane with its flagellar border
terminating in a short free flagellum posteriorly (figs. 17, 18).
The undulating membrane may coil itself spirally round the body. A
supporting rod or axostyle projects as a posterior spine. It appears
to begin near the nucleus and blepharoplast, which are situated near
the more rounded, anterior end of the body. There may be a chromatoid
basal supporting line along the body for the undulating membrane. Rows
of chromatoid granules are sometimes situated along one side of the
axostyle. A cytostome may sometimes be seen. In mice, Wenyon (1907)
found these parasites to vary in length from 3 µ to 20 µ. They occur
in the cæcum and intestine of mice, where their internal structure
seems more obvious than in man. The flagellates divide by longitudinal
fission.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--_Trichomonas intestinalis_ from man, showing
anterior flagella, cytostomic depression anteriorly, undulating
membrane, nuclei, and axostyle. ×2,500. Original.]
_T. intestinalis_, R. Leuckart, appears to be capable of settling
in all parts of the human intestine in which the contents have an
alkaline reaction. Trichomonads have been cited as occurring in the
oral cavity by Steinberg, Zunker, Rappin and Prowazek; in the œsophagus
by Cohnheim, and in the stomach by Strube, Cohnheim, Zabel, Hensen
and Rosenfeld. The normal situation seems to be the small intestine.
The parasites then appear in the dejecta, especially in various
intestinal diseases the course of which is connected with an increased
peristalsis. They are also found in healthy persons, from whom they are
obtained after the administration of laxatives. They have been regarded
by some workers as commensals, which, however, have the power of
accelerating the onset of intestinal complaints, or at least of adding
to them. They have been found in cases of carcinoma of the stomach, and
in other diseases of that organ in which the acid reaction ceased.
Naturally, whether all the reports relate to the same species of
Trichomonas must remain undecided. Certain authors (Steinberg,
Cohnheim, van Emden) accept several species. Prowazek speaks of a
variety of _T. intestinalis_ inhabiting the oral cavity. This was
distinguished by a posterior process exceeding the length of the
body fourfold, and by a somewhat unusual course of the undulating
membrane. The food of this form, which was found in the whitish
deposit present, especially in the cavities of carious teeth,
consisted almost exclusively of micrococci. Schmidt and St. Artault
named the Trichomonads found in pathological products (_e.g._,
gangrene, putrid bronchitis, phthisis) of the lungs of man, as
_Trichomonas pulmonalis_. Trichomonads have also been found by
Wieting in lobular pneumonia in the lungs of pigs.
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