Filariasis and elephantiasis in Fiji ; being a report to the London School of Tropical Medicine.

  • Manson-Bahr, Philip Heinrich, Sir, 1881-
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Filariasis and elephantiasis in Fiji ; being a report to the London School of Tropical Medicine. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    5. Fijian male, aet. 30. Sudden rigor. Temperature 104-8° F. No external clinical signs. Microfilariae fairly abundant in circulation, averaging from two to fifteen per measured quantity of blood. Leuco- cytes numbered 21,800; no eosinopliiles were found in 300 white cells counted. In three days the temperature became normal. No diminution in the number of microfilariae was noted. 6. Fijian male, aet. 40. Sudden rigor ; violent abdominal pain ; temperature 101° F. ; respirations rapid. Left hydrocele ; thickening of both spermatic cords ; slight enlargement of groin glands on both sides. Lower part of abdomen intensely tender and resonant; palpation impossible. No microfilariae found in blood. Leucocytes 14,800, eosinophiles 4 per cent. Two days after original attack, temj^erature became normal, but abdomen still very tender in pelvic region. When palpation became possible nothing abnormal could be detected. His leucocytes then Avere 8,000, and eosinophiles 10 per cent. N.B.—Signs of bronchitis were noticed in every one of these cases when the fever was at its height. APPENDIX XXVI. (b). Post-mortem examination. Fijian male, aet. 60. The subject of frequent attacks of filarial fever. The body was that of a A\'ell-nourished man who was found dead in his cutter in Suva Harbour. It was still warm when the post-mortem was commenced. The presence of unchewed food in the mouth indicated that death must have been very sudden. Enlarged cervical glands formed a prominent mass on the left side of the neck. Thorax.—There were old adhesions at the apices of either lung ; the bronchi were full of aspirated food; the lungs congested and oedematous at the base. The bronchial glands were enlarged. There was a quantity of pericardial fat, and the walls of all the chambers of the heart were distended and flabby. Slight atheroma of the root of the aorta was present. All the valves were healthy. Abdomen.—The intestines A\'ere healthy. Three ankylostomes were found in the jejunum ; there were a few superficial ulcerations in the sigmoid. The spleen was small and diffluent. The liver weighed 74 ozs., and was friable and fatty on section. The kidneys Avere congested with dark blood. The cortex of both was much diminished, and there were some granulations on the surface of the right. The prostate was enlarged. The right testis was tough and large. On section the epididymis was seen to be composed mostly of fibrous tissue from which yellow j)utty-like material exuded on pressure. In smears of this great numbers of disintegrating microfilariae were found. (The majority were sheathless and they stained indifferently, the nuclear structure being ill-defined.) A great many empty sheaths were seen. They resembled the microfilariae found in an epitrochlear gland—see PI. XXVI. No tubercle bacilli or cocci could be demonstrated in this material. Two calcified filariae were found in the epididymis. There was no hydrocele.