TRICHOMONAS BUCCALIS 



Trichomonas macacovagince, by Hegner and Ratcliffe 

 (1927b). 



2. TRICHOMONAS BUCCALIS 



Incidence of infection. This species (Fig. 8) inhabits 

 the human mouth, but what is no doubt the same species 

 has been recorded from diseased tonsils, lungs, and 

 stomach. A large proportion of the general population 

 are probably infected. Jepps (1923) examined scrapings 

 from the gingival space at the base of the teeth of 50 

 coolies in Kuala Lumpur, Federated Malay States, and 

 records 16 positive cases, an incidence of 32 per cent. 

 Hogue (1926) considers the culture method more satis- 

 factory for purposes of diagnosis. She inoculated scrap- 

 ings into culture tubes which were then incubated for 48 

 hours at 30° C. She obtained 7 positive cases from 32 

 dental patients with pyorrhea or acute gingivitis and 2 

 positive cases from 18 persons taken at random. Hin- 

 shaw (1926a) likewise seldom found these flagellates in 

 smears but secured 37 positive cases of 120 examined 

 by the culture method. 



T. huccalis and T. hominis. The possibility has been 

 suggested that the trichomonads of the human mouth and 

 intestine may belong to the same species, the latter being 

 specimens from the mouth swallowed by the host. Lynch 

 (1915c), however, could find no specimens in the intestine 

 of a person who harbored them in the mouth ; Wenyon 

 and O'Connor (191 7) report a case of oral infection 

 which they followed for months but no trichomonads 

 were ever found in the stools; and in four of Hogue's 



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