Further reports (no. 5) on flies as carriers of infection.

Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Further reports (no. 5) on flies as carriers of infection. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/30 (page 12)
    oi' abdominal discomfort, but bis symptoms were chiefly the Jesuit of alarm at the discovery of living grubs in the faeces. He had many fantastic ideas about the insects, such as ‘ they were living on his food and taking his strength,’ and ‘ that he felt them crawling about.’” Dr. Cattle adds: ‘‘From what I have since been able to learn, I have no doubt whatever that the parasites were capable of causing considerable irritation, which probably accounted for his lively imagination respecting their behaviour. He had no vomiting or other gastric or intes- tinal symptoms.” The treatment adopted consisted in the ad- ministration of various drugs, such as santonine, turpentine, and calomel in 5-grain doses, though we are told that these “ did not seem to have much effect” : it would appear that the larvse gradually left the patient of their own accord, although so late as March, 1906, one or two at a time were occasionally seen. Dr. Cattle was, unfortunately, misinformed as to the true nature of the larvae, but it is evident from figure 2 in his article that they belonged to a species of Fannia—apparently F. scalaris, Fabr. Those who happen to be interested in Myiasis of the urinary passages should consult the important paper on the subject pub- lished some three years ago by Chevrel.(^) The only instance of urethral Myiasis in this country known to the author is that referred to by Dr. J. Foster Palmer, at the meeting of the Chel- sea Clinical Society, held on February 19, 1901. In this case a Dipterous larva, subsequently submitted to the writer and found by him to be that of Fannia scalaris, was passed per urethram by a male patient. AntliO'inyia radicuin, L. This species breeds normally in the roots of vegetables, such as cabbages and radishes, and also in horse-droppings. It is a small fiy of about the same size as Fannia canicidaris or F. scalaris—blackish in the male and olive-grey in the female sex, in which the upper surface of the head between the eyes usually bears a conspicuous orange patch : the larvae are whitish maggots of the ordinary Muscid type. For permission to refer to a case of intestinal Myiasis due to larvae of A. radicum, the author is indebted to Dr. F. W. Andrewes, of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, who has kindly supplied the following particulars:—“The case occurred some four years ago, in the practice of the late Dr. J. D. Rawlings, of Dorking. The patient was a child, who, with- out any other sign of ill-health, passed the larvae in the faeces io some numbers for a few days. Under simple treatment, probably the homely but efficacious castor oil, the larvae soon disappeared.” The flies were bred out from a specimen of the stools forwarded to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and were sub- mitted by Dr. Andrewes to the writer for determination. Calli'pliora or Luciha sp. in cert. Callipliora erythrocepliala, Mg., is the common Blow-Fly, the larvae of which—known to anglers as “ gentles ”—are the large