PROWAZEKIA URINARIA 63 



Family. Bodonidae, Biitschli. 



Protomonadlna which are either free-living or parasitic, with two 

 dissimilar flagella, while the possession of an undulating membrane 

 and of a kinetic nucleus or blepharoplast is variable. 



There are three genera : 



1. Bodo, Stein, 1878, without a kinetic nucleus and undulating 



membrane. 



2. Prowazekia, Hartmann and Chagas, 1910, with a kinetic 



nucleus and without an undulating membrane. 



3. Trypanoplasma, Laveran and Mesnil, 1901, with a kinetic 



nucleus and undulating membrane. 



Of these genera Prowazekia must be discussed. Bodo does not 

 occur in man. Species of Trypanoplasma occur in the blood and in 

 the gut of various fishes, in the seminal receptacle of certain snails, 

 in the gut and genitalia of a flatworm (Dendroccelum lacteum) and in 

 the vagina of a leech. Closely allied to Trypanoplasma is the genus 

 Trypanophis, parasitic in the coelenteric cavity of Siphonophores. 



Genus. Prowazekia, Hartmann and Chagas, 1910. 



The genus was founded for a flagellate parasite, Prowazekia cruzi, 

 discovered in a culture of human faeces in Brazil. Various other 

 species have been referred thereto. The genus is separated from 

 Bodo by the possession of a second nucleus, the so-called kinetonucleus 

 or blepharoplast. It differs from Trypanoplasma in the absence of an 

 undulating membrane. It is heteromastigote, that is, it possesses two 

 dissimilar flagella, one anteriorly directed and the other lateral and 

 trailing. 



The principal species are : 



Prowazekia urinaria, Hassall, 1859. 



Syn. : Bodo urinarius, Hassall, 1859; Trichomonas irregularis, Salisbury, 1868; 

 Cystomonas urinaria, Blanchard, 1885 ; Plagiomonas urinaria, Braun, 1895. 



Hassall 1 in 1859 ^ rs t found Bodo-like flagellates in human urine. 

 He examined fifty samples of urine from patients suffering from 

 albuminuria and from cholera. The reaction of the urine was alkaline 

 or sometimes only feebly acid. The flagellates were only seen after 

 the urine had been standing for several days. Hassall named the 

 organism Bodo nrinaritis, and gave a very good description of it with 

 illustrations. The flagellate, which was round or oval, measured 14 //, 

 by 8 //,. The organism had " one, usually two, and sometimes three 



1 Lancet, 1859, ii, p. 503. 



