PIROPLASMA BIGEMINUM 517 



suffocation. The bath should be repeated after a week in order to kill 

 any lame which may have developed. All animals sent from infected 

 regions should receive this treatment. Animals apparently healthy 

 before the treatment, after the disturbing influence of the bath often 

 develop the disease in an acute form and die. 



Certain birds in Australia seem to feed on the ticks, therefore such 

 birds might be propagated. 



Various attempts have been made to give protection by the inoculation 

 of fresh (not older than two to three days) blood from slightly infected 

 animals. Some partial results have been reported, especially when the 

 inoculations were made during the cold months. In Australia the 

 inoculation of defibrinated blood from animals which have just recov- 

 ered from the infection, but whose blood still contains some parasite, 

 has been tried. Such inoculations should be followed by a slight attack 

 of the disease in order to give protection. So far no absolute protec- 

 tion has been produced, neither does the parasite-free serum of animals 

 which have entirely recovered from the disease seem to contain pro- 

 tective qualities. 



Haemosporidia similar to those described in the hsemoglobinuria of 

 cattle have been found in dogs, sheep, horses, and pigeons. Nocard 

 and Motas, who have made the most complete study of these para- 

 sites in the malignant jaundice or hsemoglobinuria of dogs, state that 

 though the parasites are morphologically similar to those infecting cattle, 

 yet it is impossible to infect cattle or any other animal tried with them. 

 They form therefore a physiological variety. 



Piropiasmata in Human Beings. Recently Wilson and Chowning have 

 reported the infection of man by an organism similar to the piroplasma 

 bigeminum. The cases in which they state that they found the organism 

 were those of "spotted fever" ("black fever," "blue disease") in Mon- 

 tana. According to these investigators the first case of this fever occurred 

 in this vicinity in 1873. Since then probably 200 cases of the severe type 

 have occurred, with a mortality of 70 to 80 per cent. The disease occurs 

 chiefly in the spring. The symptoms are chill; pains in joints; consti- 

 pation; fever with morning remissions reaching 103 to 104 on the 

 second day of appearance and a maximum of 105 to 107 in five to 

 seven days, diminishing at the end of the second week, and normal 

 two to four weeks later; purpuric eruption over the entire body, appear- 

 ing from the second to the fifth day after the chill and reaching a maxi- 

 mum in one to two days; slight jaundice; muttering delirium just before 

 death; pulse and respiration very rapid; urine slightly albuminous, 

 with granular and blood casts. The authors studied 23 cases during 

 1902 and 1903, and in all of these they say that they found the organism, 

 within the red blood cells in most instances, but sometimes between the 

 cells, few in number in some of the cases, many in the others. The 

 time of the appearance of the organism during the course of the disease 

 has not been determined. The authors describe the organism as vary- 

 ing somewhat in size, form, and staining reaction. In general, they 

 state it closely resembles the piroplasma bigeminum. 



