Q2 SPIROCILETES. 



membrane (?). He believes that they possess a central 

 rod (axenstrang) which is elastic, and a contractile 

 sheath. In length they vary from 4 to 20;*, and may 

 show as few as two curls or a large number. Terminal 

 granules are often seen, and the chromatin may gather 

 to the centre of the organism, leaving the ends colour- 

 less. Division is longitudinal. Resting forms occur 

 some with terminal loops, others closely 

 curled up, others again in the form of a 

 "figure of eight" (see Figs. 26, 33, 51). 

 They cling together in masses, but no 

 true agglutination occurs, as the organ- 

 isms free themselves again from the 

 clumps. They may get inside the red 

 blood-corpuscles (Fig. 69). Prowazek 



notes that the undulating membrane is 

 FIG. 69. Spiro- 



chaeta gailinarum best seen in macerated specimens. It 

 de. bl (Prowazeko is > therefore, probably an artifact. The 

 cilia described by Zettnow as present 

 on these organisms are also probably artifacts and 

 due to plasmolysis. These spirochaetes are killed by 

 glycerine. 



The spirochaetes can be directly inoculated from fowl 

 to fowl, and are also conveyed by the bites of ticks 

 (Argas miniatus, A. persicus, A. reflexus, Ornithodorus 

 moubatd) . Rabbits can be infected with this organism 

 (Levaditi and Lange) . Marchoux noted a loss of viru- 

 lence in these spirochaetes when they were passed 

 through a series of fowls and thinks that the original 

 virulence is regained by sojourn in the body of a tick. 



The crisis of the disease is not due to the formation 

 of antibodies, but may be due to phagocytosis. Atoxyl 

 is both protective against the affection and curative 

 when it already exists. Salvarsan (Ehrlich-Hata) is 

 also very efficacious. 



