The Animal Parasites of ManFantham, Harold Benjamin
Science
The Animal Parasites of Man
Fantham, Harold Benjamin
Medical parasitology
The boils often occur on the face, and before ulceration the parasites
may be found in the cells at the margin and floor of the “button.” In
searching for parasites the scab should be removed and scrapings made
from the floor and edges. Where lesions occur atrophy of the epidermis
takes place, and infiltration of mononuclear cells (_e.g._, plasma
cells, lymphoid and endothelial cells) follows. The parasites are
intracellular, being found inside mononuclear cells. In non-ulcerating
sores, Cardamitis found some free parasites. Non-ulcerating forms
are said to occur in the Sudan. In the Old World the sores are often
limited to exposed surfaces of the body. Infection of mucous membranes
(such as the lip, palate, buccal and nasal membranes) may occur,
especially in South America, and are often known there as “Espundia.”
Christopherson (1914) has recorded a case in Khartoum.
_Leishmania tropica_ is equally well cultivated on Novy-MacNeal-Nicolle
medium or on citrated blood. The usual temperature for cultivation
is 22° to 28° C., though Marzinowski claims to have cultivated the
parasite at 37° C. _L. tropica_ can be inoculated into monkeys and
dogs, with the production of local lesions. Material from a human sore
or flagellates from a culture may be thus successfully inoculated. Also
infected material may be rubbed directly into a scarified surface. The
incubation period is long, extending over several months. The duration
of the disease may be from twelve to eighteen months. Recovery from
one attack of tropical sore confers immunity, and the Jews in Bagdad
inoculate their children with the disease on a part of the body which
will be covered, and so secure immunity in adult life.
The mode of transmission of _L. tropica_ is unknown. Wenyon (1911)[127]
has found that the parasite develops into the flagellate stage in the
digestive tract of _Stegomyia fasciata_ in Bagdad. Patton (1912)[128]
has found similar development in the bed-bug in Cambay. The house-fly,
_Phlebotomus_ and _Simulium_ have been suspected as transmitters in
different parts of the world.
[127] _Parasitology_, iv, p. 387.
[128] _Sci. Mem. Govt. India_, No. 50.
An interesting announcement has been made recently (May, 1913), that
Neligan has found that _L. tropica_ occurs in dogs in Teheran, Persia,
producing ulcers on the dogs’ faces (_cf._ natural occurrence of _L.
infantum_ in dogs--see p. 110). Yakimoff and Schokhor (1914),[129] have
found the disease in dogs in Tashkent.
[129] _Bull. Soc. Path. Exot._, vii, p. 186.
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