112 



MuLLER (L. R.). Ueber den Icterus infectiosus. [Icterus infectiosus.] 

 —Deutsche Med. Wochenshr., Berlin, xlii, no. 17, 27th April 1917, 

 pp. 505-509. 



It is suggested that mosquitos may be responsible for the trans- 

 mission of Icterus infectiosus, cases of which were numerous in 

 November 1915, while some occurred in January 1916. The winter 

 was a mild one and during it many mosquitos were noticed indoors. 



ToPFER (H.) & ScHussLER (H.). ZuF Actiologie des Fleckfiebers. [The 

 Aetiology of Typhus.] — Deutsche Med. Wochenschr., Berlin, xlii, 

 no. 38, 21st September 1916, pp. 1157-1158, 3 figs. 



Bacteria-like organisms of characteristic form, appearance and 

 abundance, are constantly present in clothes lice from patients in the 

 advanced stage of the disease or from convalescents. These 

 organisms occur in lice after they have been fed on typhus patients, 

 but not in control lice. A patient who infected lice during the febrile 

 stage failed to infect lice after his temperature had fallen. The typhus 

 virus chiefly occurs in blood at the exanthematous stage. The virus 

 does not appear to be transmitted by infected Hce to their eggs and 

 progeny. The contents of the gut of an infected louse give rise in the 

 guinea-pig to the same febrile conditions as does the blood from a 

 typhus patient, but the incubation period is shorter. Up to the 

 present the virus has only been propagated in the intestine of the 

 clothes louse. 



ToPFER (H.). Der Fleckfiebererreger in der Laus. [The Causative 

 Agent of Typhus Fever in the Louse.]— Dew^sc^^ Med. Wochen- 

 schr., Berlin, xlii, no. 41, Tith October 1916, pp. 1251-1254. 



The conclusion is arrived at that the organism mentioned in the 

 previous paper is the cause of typhus fever. It multiplies very rapidly 

 in both head and clothes lice [Pediculus capitis and P. humanus]. It 

 is not known whether it develops elsewhere than in the intestinal cells. 

 Transmission to man is probably effected by the bites of the louse, 

 but the excreta of infected lice and the crushing of their bodies provide 

 other possible means of transmission through abrasions of the skm. 

 Patients free from lice are not a source of danger and convalescents 

 are also harmless, even though they may become infested with Hce 

 immediately after leaving the hospital. 



Frickhinger (H. W.)- Ueber das Geruchsvermogen der Kleiderlaus. 

 [The Sense of Smell in the Clothes Louse.]— Deutsche 

 Med, Wochenschr., Berlin, xlii, no. 41, 12th October 1916, 

 pp. 1254-1256. 



This paper describes experiments sho\\ang that the clothes louse 

 [Pediculus hunwnus] is able to detect the vicinity of certain individuals 

 through its sense of smell. This accords with the well-known fact that 

 some persons escape for many weeks under conditions in which others 

 immediately become infested. 



