500 AFRICAN TICK FEVER 



Sp. Duttoni. Organisms of this nature had been seen in the blood 

 of patients in Uganda by Greig and Nabarro in 1903, and Milne 

 and Ross in the end of 1904 recorded a series of observations 

 which led them to the conclusion that tick fever was due to a 

 spirochyete. It is, however, chiefly owing to the work of Button 

 and Todd in the Congo Free State, on the one hand, and of Koch 

 in German East Africa, on the other, that our knowledge of this 

 disease has been thoroughly established. 



FIG. 150. Film of human blood containing spiroehiete of tick fever, 

 x lOOO.i 



The following are the chief facts regarding this fever : 

 Clinically the fever closely resembles relapsing fever, but the 

 periods of fever are somewhat shorter, rarely lasting for more 

 than two or three days. It is seldom attended with a fatal result 

 unless in patients debilitated by other causes. The organisms 

 are considerably fewer in the blood than in the European re- 

 lapsing fever, and sometimes a careful search may be necessary 

 before they are found. Morphologically, they are said to be 



1 "We are indebted to Lieut. -Col. Sir William Leishman, R.A.M.C., 

 for the preparations from which Figs. 149-151 were taken. 



