The Animal Parasites of ManFantham, Harold Benjamin
Science
The Animal Parasites of Man
Fantham, Harold Benjamin
Medical parasitology
Doflein gave this name to amœbæ, from 30 µ to 38 µ in diameter, which
Kartulis (1893) found on examining the pus of an abscess in the right
lower jaw of an Arab, aged 43, and in a portion of bone that had been
extracted. The movements of the amœbæ (fig. 11) were more active
than those of “dysenteric amœbæ.” Their coarsely granular cytoplasm
contained blood and pus corpuscles, and a nucleus was generally only
recognizable after staining. Vacuoles were not seen with certainty.
Flexner reported upon a similar case, and Kartulis published five
additional cases. As in these cases dental caries was present the
infection is likely to have proceeded from the oral cavity as a result
of the carious teeth. Craig[31] (1911) considers that this parasite is
probably identical with _Entamœba histolytica_.
[31] “The Parasitic Amœbæ of Man,” Lippincott, Philadelphia.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--_Entamœba kartulisi_, Dofl., from the pus of
an abscess in the lower jaw, showing different stages of movement.
(After Kartulis.)]
In the literature the following species have been reported as occurring
in the oral cavity of man:--
_Amœba gingivalis_, Gros, 1849. [? identical with _Entamœba buccalis_.]
_Amœba buccalis_, Sternberg, 1862. _Amœba dentalis_, Grassi, 1879.
Far too little, however, is known concerning these to regard them
as definite species, that is, independent organisms; Grassi thinks
it even possible there may have been a confusion in their case with
salivary corpuscles. If they really are amœbæ they are all of them
probably identical with _Entamœba buccalis_.
Genus *Paramœba*, Schaudinn, 1896.
Schaudinn established the genus _Paramœba_ for a marine rhizopod
which multiplied by division, became encysted at the end of its
vegetative life and then segmented into swarm bodies with two
flagella. These multiplied by longitudinal fission, and finally
passed into the condition of Amœbæ. Whether the human parasite
described by C. F. Craig (1906) as *Paramœba hominis.* belonged to
this genus was for a time uncertain. It is now placed in a new genus
Craigia, Calkins, 1912, since it possesses only one flagellum.[32]
[32] See Craig (1913), _Amer. Journ. Trop. Dis. and Prevent. Med._, i,
p. 351.
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