302 



PARASITIC PRf/rOZOA IN KI:L ATION TO THE WAR. 



nuclei, the remains of the axostyle and the parabasal bodies. (Fig. 

 9). The cysts serve to spread the parasite. Giardia was found 

 by Fantham and Porter to be very common in cases from Galll- 

 poli, 471 stools out of 3,800 examined by them in three months 

 containing this protozoon, while on 137 occasions it wa.s the o-ily 

 protozoon present. The stools were sometimes of peculiar colours 

 and consistencies, were often l)Uiky and diarrhoeic \n character, 

 and contained mucus. By enumerative methods it was found 

 that there was a greater uniformity of distribution of cysts in a 

 diarrhoeic stool than in a semi-solid or formed one. The number 

 of encysted parasites in a bulky stool was calculated by Porter to 

 be 14,400,000,000, the bulk of the stool being 950 c.c. In a stool 

 of average volume, the number was 324,000,000, the bulk being 

 150 c.c. while in a small stool of 50 c.c. bulk. 10,000.000 were 



Fig. 9. 



Fiji. S. 



found. As each cyst. ])roduced from a suctorial flagellate form, is 

 resistant, efforts should be made to attack the flagellate form, 

 which is probably most numerous in the small intestine when cysts 

 are few in the faeces. The periodicity in the appearance of the 

 maximum crops of cysts varies slightly in different cases, the 

 period being about a fortnight in some and a little less in others. 

 There is a variation from day to day in the numbers of parasites 

 seen in the stools. 



It has been shown experimentally by Fantham and Porter 

 that Giardia of human origin is pathogenic to kittens and to mice. 

 Parasite-free animals, fed with contaminated food, became ema- 

 ciated, sufl'ered from either persistent or recurrent diarrhoea, and 

 in most cases died. Erosion of the intestin.al cells by the Giardia 

 occurred, and blood and shed epithelial cells were found in the 



