92 



SI'inOCH.TvTOSIS OK srPANF.SK I'owr.s 



Closr 

 connection 

 between the 

 intra- 



corpii scalar 

 tKxlies and 

 acute spirn- 

 chtPtosis 



Influence of 

 tcmp<*rature 



ill tlie peripheral blood 1 think one would have witnessed it hy the aid of dark-field 

 illuniiuation, althou-jh, of course, the blood is in an abnormal condition and below the 

 temperature found in liic sick fowl. (See account of liver puncture case, /"((/-■ 102.) 



Certain it is that there is an intimate connection l)etween acute spirocluetosis of 

 fowls and these inclusions, and also in all prol)al)ility between the latter and the " infective 

 granules" found in the ticks which serve as vectors in the former.' 



(3) We now pass to consider the fate of spirochietes inj^ested by Arf/dn pcmriis, and 

 the true role of the tick as a carrier. In some ways this part of the research is the most 

 interesting and important because of the analogies found to exist in this connection 

 between human and comparative pathology. In the first place, however, we may consider 

 a few experiments carried out to see if Prowazek's observations on N/>. iitillitinniin in 

 Brazil (pa<j>' VH> could be confirmed in the case of this spirochaetosis. 



E.rperimeiil : 



Defeniher i>, 19111. A largo Imtch of J. prraicius, most of them, imfortunately, ininintiiro tii-ks (ii.vmplis), 

 fed on a fowl with a heavy spiroc^hset.al infection. No bodies in fowl's blood. 



Dccfmliri- fi. ."ird day after inoculation. Rx.amination of coelemic fluid, obtained in the nsiial way, 

 commenced. A few unaltered spirochaetes found. Thereafter a fresh tick was taken on each occasion on 

 which an examination w.as conducted. 



Drcfiiihn- 9. 4th day. A doubtful dividing form seen. 



December 11. 6th day. A fciir number of spiroohietcs found. This suggests some multiplication. 

 Forms suggesting longitudinal division observed. 



Dee^mbrr 12. Spirochaetes present liut very few in number. No evidence of division or miiltiplicjition. 

 Thereafter examiu.itious on the 14fh, 16th and 18tU days. All negative. 



Ijccembir 19. 14th day. Two immature ticks examined, one a female. No s))irocha>tes in coelemic 

 fluid. Following Prowazek's method thj sjilivary glands were disse<'ted out, smeared and examined, also 

 with negative results. There were infective granules (ride infrn), in the Malpighian tubes. 



Examinations were discontinued on the 16th day after inoculation, nothing further having been found. 



In this instance these spirochiefes were not found in the ticks after the 7th day. Care was taken to 

 examine ticks which ajiparently had fed well on the fowl, but it is evident that, unless the observations are 

 very numerous and extended, fallacies niay occur. 



More work has recently been accomplished in this iliiection and the above result 

 has to some extent been confirmed. The longest period I have, so far, by ordinary 

 staining methods, found the parasites to persist in the tick is nine days. This occurred 

 in the case of ticks brought me from .Tebelin on the White Nile, some 122 miles south 

 of Khartoum where the fowls were ill. These ticks had last fed nine days before 

 examination, and in the Malpighian tube of one of them I found a solitary spirocha-te. 

 Examination of the coelemic fluid proved negative. It would appear, therefore, that 

 there is no such development as Prowazek described for Fip. (jaUinaruiii in Jn/r(.v 

 mlniatus in Brazil. It is interesting to note that the earlier work of Borrel and 

 Marchoux- with the same strain and the same tick, but carried out under different 

 conditions, did not yield quite the same results as those obtained by Prowazek. They 

 found that if infected ticks, Argas miniatus, were kept at 15-20 C. the spirochiBtes 

 rapidly disappeared, so that after three to four days none could be found. If, 

 moreover, one then kept the ticks at a temperature of 35' C, even three months 

 later, the parasites speedily reappeared multiplied, and were found especially in the 

 salivary glands. It is possible that this observation derives special interest from the 

 account of a special life-cycle which we now propose to discuss.-' 



' This and the preceding portion of the paper, suffers from the fact that when they were written, one 

 was working partly in the dark. Still, owing to this very fact, the records of raises pos.sess a certain value 

 and should \>c considered in the light of results hereafter detailed. There has not l>een time to re-write 

 the whole article. — A.B. 



■- Borrel, A., and Marchoux. K. (Kclmiary 2:'), 19a'i), "Argas et Spirilles." ''. /,'. Sue. ItwI. T. ."18. 



" I have since foimd, by the dark-field method, clumps of motionless sheaths in the contents of the 

 alimentary diverticula of a tick 19 days after it had fed on si)irochietal blood. There were no living parasites 

 present. The periplasts stained very faintly with Honianowsky but could be detected in a stained tilni. There 

 had been no multiplication of spirochiptcs. The tick had been kept at a temperature of 3" C. 



