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
The spleen is enlarged and the surface dark. In acute cases it may
be diffluent instead of hard, as in ague cake. Microscopic sections
show a striking absence of pigment in the Malpighian corpuscles,
the haemozoin being pushed off into the surrounding spleen pulp.
Bone marrow is dark from deposit of pigment. In the liver the
endothelial and Kupfer cells are packed with black pigment. The
parenchymatous cells do not contain this pigment but may show
grains of a yellow pigment, haemosiderin, which gives the iron
reaction. Haemozoin, although it contains iron, does not give this
reaction. Haemozoin is soluble in alkalis, but not in alcohol while
haemosiderin is soluble in alcohol but not in alkalis.
The splenic blood is more rich in haemozoin than that of the other
vessels, this indicating the spleen as the place of destruction of
infected red cells or as the nursery for the development of malarial
parasites. As a matter of fact splenectomy may cure an old malarial
cachectic.
The finding of pigmented mononuclears or pigmented parasites in a
cross section of a blood vessel makes for a diagnosis of a malarial
infection.
Malarial manifestations are common in tropical autopsies and one
must be very chary about reporting malaria as the real rather than
contributing cause of death.
There is usually a marked increase in large mononuclears in malaria
and if this is noted along with a leucopenia it is very suggestive.
Melaniferous leucocytes occur in malaria only.
The kidneys may show degenerative changes and the presence of
urobilin in the urine is an important indication of latent malaria.
SYMPTOMATOLOGY
CLINICALLY, WE HAVE TWO TYPES OF MALARIAL PAROXYSMS, (1) _Those
presenting a cold stage, followed by a hot stage, with a terminal
sweating stage_. Such attacks are brought about by the benign
infections which include the benign tertian and the quartan. Owing to
the fact that in such paroxysms the temperature makes a critical fall
to normal or subnormal readings such fevers are frequently designated
_intermittent fevers_.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.—Diagram of the temperature chart of a
double tertian malarial fever showing the succeeding development of
two generations of parasites, causing thereby a quotidian fever.
The solid line, _A_, shows the development of the generation of
parasites first introduced and the dotted line, _B_, the cycle of the
generation introduced later on.]
While these benign infections rarely or never exhibit pernicious
manifestations, they may, equally with the more dangerous
aestivo-autumnal parasite, lead to the production of malarial
cachexia, in which the clinical manifestations are similar whether
produced by a benign or malignant species.
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