European Relapsing Fever 
233 
European Relapsing Fever —There is widely distributed in Europe 
a type of relapsing fever which is caused by Spirochceta recurrentis. 
It has long been supposed that this disease is spread by the bed-bug 
and there is some experimental evidence to show that it may be 
conveyed by these insects. 
In 1897, Tictin found that he could infect monkeys by inoculating 
the contents of bed-bugs which had fed upon a patient within forty- 
eight hours. Nuttall, in 1907, in one experiment succeeded in trans¬ 
mitting Spirochceta recurrentis from mouse to mouse by bites of bed¬ 
bugs. The bugs, thirty-five in number, were transferred at short 
intervals from one mouse to another, not being allowed to take a 
full meal on the first, or infected mouse. 
On the other hand, there is much clinical evidence to show that 
the European relapsing fever like various other types of the disease 
is transmitted from man to man by head and body lice ( Pediculus 
humanus and Pediculus corporis). 
Interesting supplementary evidence is that of Bayon’s observa¬ 
tions (1912), in Moscow. ‘ ‘ Having visited the big municipal night hos- 
pitals at Moscow I soon noticed that they were kept with such scrupu¬ 
lous cleanliness, disinfected so lavishly, the beds of iron, the floor cement¬ 
ed, that it was not possible for bed-bugs to thrive to any extent on 
the premises. The people sleeping there were allowed, however, 
to sleep in their own clothes. The introduction of these model homes 
had not had any effect on the incidence of relapsing fever, for the 
places were still hot-beds of the fever during winter. On the other 
hand, though I changed my rooms several times, I found bugs in 
every successive lodging, and I was told in Moscow, this can hardly 
be avoided. Yet no foreigner, or Russian of the better class, ever 
catches relapsing fever. To this may be added the fact that when 
I asked for clothes-lice and promised to pay a kopec for two, the 
attendants from the night hostel brought me next morning a small 
ounce bottle crammed with Pediculus capitis (= P. humanus), and 
Pediculus vestimentorum (= P. corporis) collected off the sleepers. 
If relapsing fever were transmitted by bed-bugs, it would be much 
more disseminated than it is at present in Moscow.” 
Direct experimental evidence of the agency of lice in transmitting 
relapsing fever is especially clear in the case of a type of the disease 
prevalent in parts of North Africa. We shall consider this evidence 
later. 
