54 
SPinOCH.ETOSIS OF SUDANESE FOWLS 
A comparison 
Possible intra- 
corpusciilar 
fission 
Exit from 
corpuscles 
never 
witnessed 
Illustrative 
cases 
parasites these may unite and mingle, and suggest resting stages prior to peculiar sexual 
processes. .Ml this, however, requires confirmation, and need not he further discussed at 
present. Personally, save in one instance (Fowl I., vide infra), I have not seen these proto¬ 
plasmic halls in the case of the Sudan spirochaete. 
I have studied Prowazek’s paper and diagrams closely, aud have come to the 
conclusion :— 
1. That in the Sudan spirochiete, cell-parasitism is much more frequent than in the case of 
the Sp. cjallinaruni strain with which he worked. Indeed, it appeai'ed to be the rule 
rather than the exception, and, if carefully looked for, will he found in nearly every 
case which recovers from the acute disease. 
2. The cell infection is often much more severe in the case of the Sudan spirochiete, and 
multiple invasion is common. A glance at Plate VI., fig. 1, will confirm this statement. 
At the same time I will not go so far as to say that each of the bodies in the corpuscle 
represents a spirochaete, which, let us say, has passed into a resting stage. In the 
fresh Idood I have seen appearances which suggest that the spirochaete may undergo 
transverse division at several points within the corpuscle, and that each segment then 
contracts and encysts, forming the smaller class of the endoglohular bodies. Apart 
from what has been seen this would explain some of the peculiar appearances and the 
great difference in size and shape which exists between the bodies. In some cases 
they are produced by a complete parasite, which has become coiled up, and the central 
core of which has degenerated ; in others they represent fragments of a spirochaete 
which has divided into several parts, each part tending to contract and possibly encyst. 
May not this also explain the reason for the apparent breaks or gaps seen in stained 
specimens of the spirochaete, these being the points at which the intra-corpuscular 
fission takes place ? 
3. It is possible that the spirochaetes may leave the corpuscles, but I have never seen this 
occur. I have, however, witnessed one of the spherical bodies bulging out the envelope 
of the corpuscle as though it were endeavouring to get free. 
One has to ask. Is this a new species of spirochsete ? Does its life-history entitle it to be 
classed separately from Sp. gallinarum'i Before dealing with this aspect of the subject, about 
which little can in any case be said, it will be well to record more fully some of the cases 
observed. 
In the first place we take a fowl (Hen 20), the temperature chart of which has been 
given { 2 >age 47). This was a bird whicli came in when in the “ after phase,” and the following 
are the notes upon its condition and subsequont history 
Case I. January 1907. White and speckled fowl brought in from the market, 
Khartoum. Very ill and extremely emaciated. Masses of the larvae of Argas persicus 
adhering to the bare patches of skin under its wings ; smelt foully ; was anaemic and suffering 
from tremors of the body. The blood showed that there was very heavy infection of the red 
cells, often multiple. The fresh blood was preserved for several days between slide and 
cover glass, but nothing special was noted. 
In this case also, as in others, wet films were fixed by osmic acid or in Flemming’s 
fixative; but these measures produced no change in the appearance of the bodies, and failed 
to yield any fresh information. 
January 20th. A considerable quantity of citrated blood inoculated subcutaneously into 
Fowl 21 with negative results. Either Fowl 21 was immune, or the blood is not infective 
in the “ after phase ” when no free spirochoetes are present in it. As mentioned, however, 
inoculation has several times proved successful during the “ after phase,” hut I am inclined 
to think that in these cases undetected free spiroclnetes must have been present in the blood 
