The diagnostics and treatment of tropical diseasesStitt, E. R. (Edward Rhodes)
Science
The diagnostics and treatment of tropical diseases
Stitt, E. R. (Edward Rhodes)
Tropical medicine
A pocket made by cutting the skin of a guinea pig with scissors
and extended subcutaneously with scissors or forceps, into which
a piece of the suspected plague tissue is thrust with forceps, is
more practical than injecting an emulsion with hypodermic syringe.
Mice inoculated at the root of the tail succumb quickly. Rats, this
being primarily a disease of rats, are of course susceptible.
When a guinea pig is inoculated with plague material the animal
should be placed in a galvanized iron garbage can or other similar
container and the opening covered with cheese cloth to prevent the
fleas or other vermin which it might harbor from escaping. Again a
6-inch band of tanglefoot fly paper should be attached around the
interior of the upper part of the can to further prevent escape of
fleas. It must be remembered that every precaution must be taken
in the laboratory to prevent the escape of plague-infected fleas.
The guinea pig usually dies in from two to five days and shows
glandular enlargements, and marked congestion of viscera with a
swollen spleen, smears from which may show a profusion of plague
bacilli.
The subcutaneous tissues about the site of inoculation show a
haemorrhagic oedema.
If guinea pigs are not available one may use white mice which die
within forty-eight hours or white rats which live about as long as
guinea pigs.
One of the most important points in fighting plague is the
detection of plague in the rats and, from noting the locality in
which such plague-infected rats were caught, to direct our rat
destruction efforts to that particular section of the city. These
dead rats should be dropped into a bichloride solution or petroleum
preparation in order to destroy the rat fleas. In the laboratory
they are dissected and plague-infected ones most easily recognized
by the marked subcutaneous injection of the widely reflected
skin flap. Oedematous or haemorrhagic glandular swellings are
characteristic. The liver shows a yellowish appearance, and as
if sprinkled with small whitish dots and the spleen is swollen
and congested. There may be effusion into the pleural cavities.
Material from the swollen glands or spleen should be stained,
cultured and inoculated into animals as for a human case.
If glandular, splenic or other material from human or rat autopsies
has to be sent to a distant laboratory the specimen should be placed
in a strong salt mouth bottle containing 20% glycerine in water with
2% calcium carbonate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account