50 
sriiiocH^Tosis OF sudanb:sk fowls 
Post mortem 
appearances 
Feeding 
experiments 
with ticks, 
bed-bugs, and 
lice 
whence it started. There was no possibility of error in this observation, wdiich was made on a 
blood film kept at 108° F. in the microscope thermostat. These intra-corpuscular bodies are 
very resistant. Thus I have kept a fresh film for three days at room temperature and yet been 
alile to demonstrate them. In some cases, indeed, the hasmoglohin had oozed out of the 
corpuscles, but the spherical bodies still remained in situ apparently unchanged. As a rule, 
however, when the lilood is kept the bodies become more granular and also appear to increase 
in size. 1 have seen a condition result suggesting a breaking down and disintegration into 
granules. The appearance of free spherical forms attempting to gain an entry into corpuscles 
described hy me' in an earlier paper was probably an error in observation, for, as stated, the 
presence of haemicouia is very apt to deceive one. 
The blood of infected Ijirds taken at night failed to reveal anything new. .\ttempts were 
made to crush the corpuscles, but in the absence of a porcelain ball-mill this is a very difficult 
thing to do, and has been void of any useful results. As in the stained blood, so in tbe fresh, 
there is no evidence of the infected corpuscle having undergone change. A common measure¬ 
ment for the unstained bodies is 2'8/i in either diameter. 
Post mortem. —Smears from the heart’s blood, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys and bone- 
marrow, show the bodies to he present in the red cells usually much in the same numbers as 
in the peripheral blood. The appearances presented hy them are also, as a rule, similar to 
those described, save that in the lung smears, gaps or vacuoles may be seen in the red cells, 
which look as though they had been occupied by the bodies, and that these latter had, so to 
speak, fallen out of them or been discharged from them. If so, it is probably in the form of 
granules, for the disintegrated, granular forms are sometimes seen in considerable numbers in 
lung smears. The significance of this observation will be discussed anon. Furthermore, in 
the bone-marrow smears there has been seen a condition suggestive of absorption of some of 
the bodies by the large phagocyte mononuclears. 
At an early period it seemed as though this condition, like spirochtetosis, was associated 
with tick infestation. Accordingly, gorged female ticks and larval ticks taken from birds with 
severe infection were dissected according to Christophers’ method, and smears made of the 
gorged diverticula, the ovaries, eggs and other portions of the internal anatomy. In several 
cases unaltered bird’s red corpuscles were found showing the bodies either unchanged or in 
the granular, “ spore ’’-like or disintegrated forms sometimes met with in the peripheral blood. 
No other forms were found, and the smears made from the eggs and ovaries yielded negative 
results. Bed-l)ugs [Cimc.x macroccplialus) were also fed on the infected fowls, and smears 
from their alimentary tracts showed similar appearances to those presented by the ticks. The 
examination of lice (Meiuipnu sp. ') proved negative. 
Attempts to transfer these bodies from the sick to the healthy fowl by means of 
ticks failed. 
Nature of the Condition Discussed. — At first, and indeed for a long time, I was unable 
to come to any definite conclusion regarding these bodies. It was evident that they were 
blood parasites of some sort, for, after careful consideration, I was able to assure myself that 
they did not represent any degenerative condition of the corpuscles associated with vacuolation 
or extrusion of nuclear substance, and also that they were not of the nature of Cropper’s 
bodies, which, for one thing, can only be stained with difficulty. 
The appearance in the fresh blood, the results obtained by the modified Eoss’ method of 
staining and the general arrangement of the stained parasites in the corpuscles, together 
with their association with a definite illness, all convinced me that I w’as dealing with some 
form of pathogenetic blood parasite. I asked myself if the condition could be post-spirillary, 
' Balfour. A. (May 1st, 1!)07), “ A I’cruliar Blood Condition, probably Parasitic, in Sudanese Fowls.” 
Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 
