BABESIA OR PIROPLASMA BIGEMINA 233 



arthritic involvement, petechia, and purpura in the skin. It is 

 supposedly infectious, but not contagious. Its cause is considered 

 by Wilson and Chowning to be the protozoon Pyroplasma, which 

 occurs in the blood of infected individuals. It appears within the 

 erythrocytes and they resemble hyaline bodies of malaria. They 

 are from i/j. to 2/* in length, sometimes from four to sixteen bodies 

 are found within a single cell. They grow gradually larger and then 

 exhibit amoeboid motion with pseudopodia formation. 



By injecting blood from an infected man into rabbits, the latter 

 become infected, and the parasites are found in the blood. It is 

 believed by the discoverer that the parasites are conveyed from the 

 gopher Spermophilus columbianus to man by the means of ticks, the 

 Margaropus annulatus. 



