u 





TReprinted i-bom parasitology, Vol. VII, No. 2, pp. 18'J-200, Jomb 19, 1914] 



[All Rights reserved] 



THE OCCURRENCE OF OXYURIS VERMICULARIS 

 IN THE HUMAN VERMIFORM APPENDIX. 



By J. ALEXANDER INNES, B.Sc, 

 AND A. ELMSLIE CAMPBELL, M.A., B.Sc, M.B., Ch.B. 



{From the Parasitology Laboratory, University of Aberdeen.) 



This investigation was commenced by one of us (J. A. L) in 1910, 

 and carried on for three and a half years. Our purpose was to determine 

 as accurately as possible the percentage of appendices operated on for 

 appendicitis which contained intestinal parasites. The results of a 

 ^tudy of 100 unselected cases are given below. 



Previous records. 



Isolated cases of intestinal parasites in the appendix have been 

 reported from time to time during the past years, but these have served 

 no useful purpose except to corroborate the fact that the appendix is 

 a not infrequent habitat of certain parasitic worms. In 1634, Fabricius 

 ab Aquapendente mentions that he occasionally found a worm in the 

 appendix, but as to the species of worm he makes no reference. 

 Santorini, in 1724, made the same observation. Birch-Hirshfeld, in 

 1871, records an extremely rare condition of echinococcus of the appendix 

 alone, without echinococcus of the liver. 



Still (1899) was the first to investigate, with any precision, the 

 parasitology of the appendix. Working with both normal and patho- 

 logical appendices of children, he came to certain conclusions : of these, 

 the following are the more important : 



(1) That the appendix is a common habitat of 0. vermicularis in 

 children. 



(2) That the appendix may serve, in some cases, as a breeding place 

 for the worms. 



Parasitology vii 18 





