THE ANIMAL PARASITES OF MAN 



FIG. 213. Ce- 

 phalic end of Sparga- 

 num mansoni, Cobb. 

 {After Leuckart.) 



twelve specimens being found beneath the peri- 

 toneum and one free in the abdominal cavity. 

 Cobbold described them as Lignla mansoni y and 

 Leuckart, who contemporaneously reported a case 

 in Japan, termed them Bothriocephalus lignloides. 

 Ijima and Murata reported eight further cases, and 

 Miyake records nine further cases, seven of which 

 are recorded in Japanese literature. 



The plerocercoid, which hitherto alone is known 

 to us, attains a length of 30 cm. and a breadth of 

 3 to 6 to 12 mm. The ribbon-shaped body is 

 wrinkled, the lateral borders are often somewhat 

 thickened, so that the transverse section has the 

 form of a biscuit ; the anterior end is usually wider 

 and has the head provided with two weak suctorial 

 grooves, either retracted or protracted. 



The parasite makes migrations within the body, 

 and thus may reach the urinary passages ; then it is 

 either evacuated with the urine or has to be removed 

 from the urethra ; not rarely it causes non-inflam- 

 matory tumours on various parts of the skin, which 

 are at times painful and at times vary in size. 



Nothing is known of its development and origin. 



Sparganum proliferum, Ijima, 1905. 



Syn. 



Plerocercoides prolifer, Ijima, 1905 ; Sparganum 

 prolifer, Verdun, Man son, 1907. 



These plerocercoids produce an acne-like con- 

 dition of the skin. The condition is really one of 

 capsules in great abundance in the subcutaneous 

 tissue and less so in the corium and in the inter- 

 muscular connective tissue. The encapsuled worms 

 in the corium feel like embedded rice grains and 

 raise the epidermis, giving rise to an acne-like con- 

 dition. Many thousands occur scattered over the 

 body; in Ijima's Japanese case there were over 

 10,000 in the left thigh. The worms when they first 

 appear in the skin cause itching. The capsules are 

 ovoid, generally about i to 2 mm. in diameter, but 

 they may be smaller and also much larger. The 

 larger ones occur in the subcutaneous tissue. The 

 capsules consist of dense tough connective tissue. 

 Each capsule, as a rule, contains one worm, but as many as seven 

 may occur. The skin of areas that have been long infected is swollen 



FIG. 2i$.Sparga- 

 nuni mansoni : on 

 the right in transverse 

 section. Natural size. 

 (After Ijima and 

 Murata.) 



