SPARGANUM PROLIFERUM 



253 



other Japanese cases, discovered in 1907 and 1911 respectively, 

 have also been reported. In one of these the worms, most but 

 not all of them in capsules, were found in countless numbers not 

 only in the subcutaneous tissue but also in the muscles and through- 

 out most of the internal organs, including even the brain. 



The worms of this species (Fig. 99) are in all cases white, flat- 

 tened organisms of very variable shape and size. They usually 

 vary from three mm. to 12 mm. (| to \ an inch) in length, and 

 from 0.3 mm. to 2.5 mm. (5 to 15 of an inch) in width, but in 

 one Japanese case they were uniformly larger, reaching a length 

 of three inches. Their peculiarly irregular shape is due to the 

 unique method of proliferation by the growth of buds or super- 

 numerary heads. These apparently 

 become detached, leave the cyst, and 

 become encapsuled themselves after 

 migrating in the subcutaneous tissue. 

 This explains the increasing num- 

 bers of acne-like spots or nodules 

 containing worms, which were re- 

 ported by the patients. 



Attempts made by Ijima to pro- 

 duce adult worms by feeding the 

 larvae to various domestic animals 

 failed, and nothing is known of the 

 life history or mode of infection be- 

 yond a suspicion that the eating of 

 raw fish is responsible for it. Dr. 



,. . ., T->i -j FIG. 99. Sparganum proliferum, 



Gates, who discovered the Florida from man in Florida. Much en- 

 case, reported that there was probably larged. (After stiles.) 

 a similar case in Florida a few years 



before, the patient having moved to California where he died 

 "eaten up with worms." 



The rare occurrence of this peculiar and serious parasitic disease 

 is evidence that the mode of infection is unusual. The suspicion 

 that it results from eating raw fish is sufficient reason for discrim- 

 ination against ^his kind of food even in places where this or other 

 human para sites which come from raw fish are not positively 

 known to occur. 



