181 



IlKliri/ruMUNAS l,YG.l';i 



No 



tlfiiiiinstrablc 

 connection 

 with the 

 parasite of 

 Kala-a^ar <ir 

 Oriental Sore 



Conclusion 



peritoneal cavity of a Oeiropitheciin moiikej-, a species of monkey which can be artificially 

 inoculated with kahi-azar. Examinations of tlie perijiheral and splenic blood of this 

 monkey were carried out at various intervals, but all with negative results, and as the 

 monkey showed no clinical signs of kala-a/.ar the result of this experiment may be 

 considered a negative one. A second experiment was carried out in wiiich the fieces, 

 containing a heavy infection of herpetomonas cysts, were injected into the peritoneal cavity 

 of another monkey. This experiment, like the previous one, yielded a negative result. 

 Experiments on the same lines were carried out on rabbits and on one guinea-pig, and they 

 also gave negative results. 



Cultivation experiments were carried out on dififerent culture media, the best results 

 being obtained by using Nicolle's medium at a temperature of 25 C. In this medium, the 

 rtagcllates lived and multiplied for a period of tliree days, liut subsequently lost tlieir 

 motility and became disintegrated. A temperature of 37 C. did not appear ii suitable one 

 for tiieir growth. 



Quite recently, oriental sore has been found to exist in the Sudan, and, with the view 

 of ascertaining whether any relationship existed between the parasites of that disease and 

 those found in the gut of Lyijiens militaris, the following experiment was carried out. 

 The fajces and crop contents of a heavily infected Lyyieus militaris were placed on the 

 surface of an abrasion artificially made on the leg of a Cercopithecus monkey. Living 

 flagellates were found to be present at the end of six hours, after which they became 

 disintegrated, and, at the end of 2i hours, no trace of either flagellates or cysts were 

 visible in the lesion. A further examination of this lesion, carried out a week later, was 

 also attended with negative results. 



Pattou, in his researches on kala-azar in India, found that the Leisiniiaii body 

 underwent development changes in Giine.v rotiiiidalii.", and naturally concluded that this 

 bug played a possible role as a transmitting agent of the disease. In the Sudan, Cimex 

 rotimdatns, until recently, had only been found on the Red Sea coast,* but the allied species, 

 Cimex lectidarius, is practically ubiquitous, and in order to determine whether the latter 

 bug was a host for flagellates of the herpetomonas type a large number of them was dissected, 

 but all with negative results. A number of these living bugs and their nymphs was placed 

 in a jar containing Lijywi mililaris, the fsEces of which were full of flagellates. After three or 

 four days an interesting fact was noticed ; some of the bugs were found attached to 

 the bodies of the Li/g»i militari!' and appeared to be sucking their contents ; the bugs 

 were dissected, but in no case were Hagellates or cysts discovered in their alimentary 

 tracts. Mention may be made here that several feeding and transmission experiments, 

 based on Patton's' line of work in India, have been carried out with Ciine.r lectulariux 

 and Oniithodonm xariijni/i on cases of kala-azar in the Sudan, and have all given negative 

 results, and one is inclined to consider that these insects cannot be held responsible agents 

 in the transmission of kala-azar in the Sudan. 



In conclusion, one may say that the herpetomonas wiiich is found to infest tlie 

 alimentary tract of Lygieus militarin in the Sudan is more or less morphologically 

 identical with, and goes through the same life-cycle as, the Herpetomonais lygtei described 

 by Patton in India. Animal experiments proved it to be non-pathogenic, and, therefore, 

 it is not at all likely that it is in any way associated with the pathological conditions 

 known as oriental sore and kala-azar. 



* Bed-bugs recctitly sent me from the Lado District, tlongnlln ProTincc, proved to Iwloug to this Rpccies. — A.B. 

 ' Pattou, W. S. (1907), "The Development of the Ijeishnian-Douovnn iMirasite iu Oimcj- rolundalus." 

 Scientific Meiiinin of the Ouol. uf Iiuiiu, No. 31. 



