ACID-FAST BACILLI IN THE LUNG OF A CAMEL 



353 



The millet seed areas represented caseous tubercles undergoing a connective tissue Microscopic 



... ,• ,■ 11 appearances 



intiltration. Tliey consisted of necrosed tissue in which connective tissue cells were 

 present, and were surrounded by eudothelioid cells, irregular in shape, and containing 

 one or more nuclei ; they in turn were surrounded by round cells of an inflammatory type. 

 The air vesicles in the vicinity of the tubercles showed evidence of collapse, but there was 

 no marked catarrhal or croupous exudate present. The tubercles were not confined to the 

 interlobular septa but were present throughout the lung substance. The large caseous 

 fibrotic areas met with at the base of the lung represented masses of necrosed tissue 

 which had undergone complete fibrosis as shown by the large numbers of connective 

 tissue cells present. In these areas all traces of the normal lung substance had 

 disappeared. Typical giant cells were also in evidence. 



In sections stained by Ziehl-Nielsen, acid-fast bacilli were found fco be present in 

 the vicinity of the tubercles. These acid-fast bacilli occurred as single, beaded rods with 

 rounded ends measuring on an average 4/(, and morphologically resembled tubercle bacilli. 



Conclusions 



From the results of the examination of this specimen one is inclined to consider 

 that this was a pathological condition resulting from the effects of an acid-fast bacillus 

 morphologically identical with the tubercle bacillus. The macroscopical lesions simulated 

 those of acute miliary tuberculosis followed by a reparative fibrosis. 



In the literature at one's disposal no reference to such a condition occurring in the 

 camel has, as far as one knows, been previously recorded, ^ and it is difficult to conceive how 

 such an animal is a suitable subject for a disease like lung tuberculosis when one considers 

 its open-air existence and that its life is rarely spent in the vicinity of towns. 

 Mr. Esmond Brown, M.E.C.V.S., who for some time was Director of the Government 

 Abattoir in Cairo, stated, in a letter to me, that he had frequently seen lesions of a 

 tubercular type in the lungs, liver and kidneys of old camels, and in a few cases acid-fast 

 bacilli were found to be present in these lesions. He further stated that the fibrous 

 nature of these lesions appears to be a feature of the disease in camels. 



Interstitial Pneumonl^ in a Camel's Lung 



BY 



Captain K. G. Archibald, M.B., R.A.M.C., attached E.A. 



Pathologist and Assistant Bacteriologist 



Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories, Khartoum 



Plate XVIII., fig. 1 



In this specimen the pathological changes represent a contrast to those present in the 

 camel's lung in which acid-fast bacilli were found. 



' See, however, a recent paper by Leese in the Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics, 

 December, 1910. 



