SPIROCHETES 329 



with a view to securing early treatment in those cases 

 which would not be diagnosed on ordinary clinical 

 grounds. The mode of procedure was to examine the 

 placental blood taken at the time of delivery, before 

 ligature of the cord. Out of 103 such samples, in 16 a 

 positive result was obtained. Out of the 16, no evidence 

 was got of syphilis by clinical examination or history in 

 the parents or child in 8 cases. Of the remaining 8, there 

 was definite evidence in the parents or child in 5 cases ; 

 and in one other the mother had previously borne an 

 anencephalic monster. In every case in which the child 

 showed signs of syphilis at birth, the mother's blood gave 

 a positive reaction. 



Immunization. Though one attack of syphilis usually 

 protects against another infection beginning with a chancre, 

 no success has yet been obtained in attempts to produce 

 either active or passive immunization. 



Yaws. A disease resembling syphilis, and at times 

 regarded as identical with it, which prevails endemically in 

 the West Indies, Brazil, Fiji, Ceylon, the East Indies, and 

 different parts of Africa. It is called variously yaws, fram- 

 bcesia, bubas, koko, paranghi, and pian. It is highly con- 

 tagious, but is not hereditary or congenital. It is now 

 believed to be due to Treponema pertenue, first described by 

 Castellani in 1905 as Spirochaeta pertenuis, which resembles 

 the Treponema pallidum closely. 



