165 



Sekgext (E.) & FoLFA' (H.)- De la periode de latence du Spirille chez 

 le Pou infecte de Fievre R^currente. — [The latent period of the 

 ■Spirilla in the Louse infected with Recurrent Fever.] — C.R. Acad. 

 Sci., Paris, clix, no. 1, 6th July 1914, pp. 119-122. 



The virus of recurrent fever may assume a form other than that of 

 the generally recognised spirillum. This form, in which the organism 

 is very small, may appear in the periods of apyrexia which intervene 

 between the attacks in man, and in the flea immediately after it has 

 taken the meal of blood causing its infection. In both man and the 

 louse this form is assumed for about eight days on the average, and the 

 fact that this change of form takes place is an argument in favour of 

 the Protozoan affinities of this parasite. 



Sandfly Fever. — Jl. Trop. Med. Hyg., London, xvii, no. 16, 15th Aug. 

 1914, pp. 251-252. 



At the meeting of the British Medical Association held this year 

 in Aberdeen five papers v ere read deahng with various aspects of sand- 

 fly fever. Captain P. J. Marett dealt with the bionomics of the Maltese 

 species of Phlebotomus ; the habits of the larvae were described in 

 detail ; the larvae lack eyes and live in dark places amongst rubbish ; 

 their food consists for the most part of the excreta of woodhce, lizards 

 and bats ; the optimum temperature for their development is above 

 70° F., and a certain amount of moisture appears to be essential ; 

 the necessary physical conditions are found in the interior of rubble 

 walls, crevices of caves, and in Malta especially in the interior of the 

 old bastions. The pupa is of a dull white colour ; the adults are 

 sexually mature within a few hours of emergence ; the maximum 

 distance of flight in a horizontal direction is about 50 yards. They 

 are commonly attacked by an ectoparasite — a small red mite — and 

 internally by the fungus Empusa papatasii. The species of Phle- 

 botomus described by Newstead as occurring in Malta are P. papatasii, 

 P. nmiutus, and P. perniciosus, all apparently capable of serving as 

 hosts for the virus of sand-fly fever. In Malta the flies appear about 

 the middle of May in small numbers, gradually increasing up to the 

 middle of June ; they are less numerous in July, but swarm again 

 from the middle of August to the middle of September. 



Colonel Birt dealt mainly with the chnical symptoms of the fever ; 

 after the attack, a high degree of immunity is developed, and second 

 infections of the same individual are very rare. 



Captain Graham described sand-fly fever in Chitral. which was 

 originally described in 1906 by Macarrison under the name of three- 

 day fever, but which corresponds in every detail with the disease in 

 the Mediterranean. In the mountainous district of which the paper 

 treats, it never occurs at an elevation above 7,000 feet. Two species 

 of Phlebotomus occur — P. papatasii and P. minutus, both of which 

 convey the infection. As regards racial susceptibihty, the Gurkhas 

 of the hill country are more prone to contract the fever than are the 

 natives from the hot plains of the Punjab, the majority of whom have 

 been previously infected. 



Professor Galh (Rome) read a short communication on sand-fly 

 fever in Italy, where the disease appeared suddenly after the great 



