Herpetomonas lygæi : considered from a protozoological and medical aspect / by R.G. Archibald.

  • Archibald, R. G. (Robert George), Sir, 1880-1953.
Date:
[1911]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Herpetomonas lygæi : considered from a protozoological and medical aspect / by R.G. Archibald. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/16 page 184
    No demonstrable connection with the parasite of Kala-azar or Oriental Sore Conclusion 184 HERPETOMONAS LYGATI peritoneal cavity of a Oercopithecus monkey, a species of monkey which can be artificially inoculated with kala-azar. Examinations of the peripheral and splenic blood of this monkey were carried out at various intervals, but all with negative results, and as the monkey showed no clinical signs of kala-azar the result of this experiment may be considered a negative one. A second experiment was carried out in which the feces, containing a heavy infection of herpetomonas cysts, were injected into the peritoneal cavity of another monkey. This experiment, like the previous one, yielded a negative result. Experiments on the same lines were carried out on rabbits and on one guinea-pig, and they also gave negative results. Cultivation experiments were carried out on different culture media, the best results being obtained by using Nicolle’s medium at a temperature of 25° C. In this medium, the flagellates lived and multiplied for a period of three days, but subsequently lost their motility and became disintegrated. A temperature of 37° C. did not appear a suitable one for their growth. Quite recently, oriental sore has been found to exist in the Sudan, and, with the view of ascertaining whether any relationship existed between the parasites of that disease and those found in the gut of Lygseus militaris, the following experiment was carried out. The feces and crop contents of a heavily infected Lygxus militarts were placed on the surface of an abrasion artificially made on the leg of a Cercopithecus monkey. Living flagellates were found to be present at the end of six hours, after which they became disintegrated, and, at the end of 24 hours, no trace of either flagellates or cysts were visible in the lesion. A further examination of this lesion, carried out a week later, was also attended with negative results. Patton, in his researches on kala-azar in India, found that the Leishman body underwent development changes in Cimex rotundatus, and naturally concluded that this bug played a possible réle as a transmitting agent of the disease. In the Sudan, Ocmez rotundatus, until recently, had only been found on the Red Sea coast,* but the allied species, Cimex lectularius, is practically ubiquitous, and in order to determine whether the latter bug was a host for flagellates of the herpetomonas type a large number of them was dissected, but all with negative results. A number of these living bugs and their nymphs was placed in a jar containing Lyga militaris, the feces of which were full of flagellates. After three or four days an interesting fact was noticed; some of the bugs were found attached to the bodies of the Lygsi militaris and appeared to be sucking their contents; the bugs were dissected, but in no case were flagellates or cysts discovered in their alimentary tracts. Mention may be made here that several feeding and transmission experiments, based on Patton’s! line of work in India, have been carried out with Cimezx lectularius and Ornithodoros savignyt on cases of kala-azar in the Sudan, and have all given negative results, and one is inclined to consider that these insects cannot be held responsible agents in the transmission of kala-azar in the Sudan. In conclusion, one may say that the herpetomonas which is found to infest the alimentary tract of Lygseus militaris in the Sudan is more or less morphologically identical with, and goes through the same life-cycle as, the Herpetomonas lygsxi described by Patton in India. Animal experiments proved it to be non-pathogenic, and, therefore, it is not at all likely that it is in any way associated with the pathological conditions known as oriental sore and kala-azar. * Bed-bugs recently sent me from the Lado District, Mongalla Province, proved to belong to this species.—A.B. 1 Patton, W.S. (1907), ‘‘The Development of the Leishman-Donovan parasite in Cimex rotundatus.” Setentific Memoirs of the Govt. of India, No. 31.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3