Page:The Journal of Tropical Medicine, volume 6.djvu/213

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Juné 1, 1903.]

coast lying between those two towns, it is common on the coast to the north near the Venezuelan boundary where the forests come down to the sea, Warau Indians livig at the mouth of the Waini river being found to be infected. There is little doubt that the same parasite, if looked for, would be found in Dutch and French Guiana, Brazil, and in parts of Venezuela where the tropical forests are dense, and its distribution therefore is prob- ably a much more extensive one in South America than we at present know of.

Ajrica——Manson has shown that the parasite is common on the Congo, Old Calabar, and other parts of the West Coast of Africa, 30 out of 54 individuals showing it im blood slides sent to him by Professor Firket from the Congo, and 35 out of 61 in slides sent from Banza Mankeka. Further, Dr. Rice has lately informed me that he found Filaria perstans in 50 per cent. of the people of Ibadan in the hinterland of Lagos, and the members of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine expeditions have also found it in other parts of the West Coast of Africa.

On the East Coast of Africa it is not found in the towns of Zanzibar or Mombasa; nor amongst the Masai, a large tribe inhabiting the highlands beyond Nairobi; nor amongst the Kavirondo, who dwell along the north-east shores of the Victoria Nyanza lake.

_ In Uganda, on the other hand, as Moffat, Hodges, and Cook have shown, it is’ extremely prevalent in many areas of that large province.

I found it in 86 out of 100 people from the Sese Islands to the south of Entebbe; in 62 out of 100 in Bulemezi and Mugema respectively, districts some dis- tance north of the lake; and Moffat and myself got it in 76 per cent. of the people of Unyoro, the province lying to the east of the Albert Nyanza. In the Alur _ tribe, from near Wadelai on the Nile, Bagshawe and myself found that it was not so common, only 4 out of 48 having it. To the south Daniels found one case in a native of British Central Africa on Lake Nyassa.

PuysicaL Features of THE COUNTRY WHERE FILARIA Perstans Is Founp.

_ So far Filaria perstans has only been found in or near the Equatorial belt, where the temperature is high and the atmosphere saturated with moisture, examples those places being the tropical forests of South America, the steamy forests of the Congo, and Uganda, where tropical forests alternate with enormous swamps and open ground. In Kavirondo, as already mentioned, Where the forest disappears and the land is covered with scrub and short grass, it is not found, nor on the

assy plains of the highlands of British East Africa. Towns and areas where the forest has been cut down and cultivation taken its place, as on the coast-line of ish Guiana, are also exempt from it.

Tae Empryonic or LarvaL Form.

_ The anatomy and measurements (0-203 to 0°205 mm. by 00042 mm. broad) of the embryos of Filaria perstans correspond closely to those of Filaria Demarquaii, but t can readily be distinguished from those by its blunt t rounded tail.

THE JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE

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TABLE II.

ENUMERATION OF F. PERSTANS IN 5 CMM. OF BLOOD FROM THE DIFFERENT INTERNAL ORGANS AND IN LYMPH.

CasE I. CasE II.

Died 6 p.m., September 3oth, Died 3 p.m., September 16th, 1902. Number of 7. Zerstansin | 1902. Number of /. perstans in 5 cmm. of blood on that day— | 5 cmm. of blood on that day— 8a.m.,0; 4p.m.,4. Necropsy, | 2 p.m., 7. Necropsy, 4 p.m., 6 a.m., September 31st, 1902. September 16th, 1902.

2% 25 Bl Ss S| 8% 3s ° F yy ° Organ | Sit g Organ sie ¢ |s|3§ 3|%§ | A ow Zz 6 em 4s | Ileart, L. vent. | 1) 19 Heart, L. vent. Dens », JR. vent. Ae | DAER » JR. vent. 1 | 24 Lung, R. I | 14 | Lung, R. 1 | 10 39, Las I} 17 » L. I 15 Tiver,... I 1 |, liver... I oO Spleen ... ; ...| t | ©] Spleen t‘, 0 Pancreas se hee || U 2 | Pancreas I I Kidney, R. I | 0] Kidney, R. ranlfeamees 3 Lb I oO a mes I 2 Aorta .., | 1egoreAorta.., Q fiche) [ai el ath 0 Superior vena cava 1 | 16 | Superior vena cava 1 | 10 R. common carotid ...| I 4 | R. common carotid ...| 1 | 24 R. internal jugular vein | 1 | 10 | R. internal jugular ...| 1 | 7 L. saphenous vein I 7 | L. saphenous vein ...| 1 | 10 Sup. longitudinal sinus | 1 | 7 | Sup. longitudinalsinus| 1 | 4 Subdural vein tees Subdural vein = ler lee Brain, capillary motor | 1 I | Brain, capillary motor | ; | 8 area area R. middle cerebral I} ©| Capillary at base of| I brain Smears not measured...| —| — | Smears not measured | —| — Lateral ventricle fluid...| 1 | Oj] R. lateral ventricle} ; | o fluid Mesenteric gland, A. ...| 2 | © | Femoral gland ° dg yy ss .. | 2emonmueck gland 2. been | eG a ry) C2... | ZaeONlMMiesenteric! gland 4.1"; | 6 Cervical gland Lene Femoral gland ro

The cephalic armature as seen in fresh specimens consists of a non-serrated prepuce, difficult to make out, and the little fang first described by Manson. A