260 THE PROTOZOA 



The generic name Spiroschaudinnia is preferred by some to the more commonly 

 accepted Spirochata. East and West African relapsing fevers, or tick fever, is 

 caused by S. duttoni and the transmission is through the bite of an argasine tick, 

 Ornithodorus moubata. Not only does the tick itself become infected by the taking in 

 of blood containing spirochaetes but likewise transmits the infection to its progeny. 

 Leishman considers that when the spirochaetes are taken into the alimentary tract 

 of the tick there is a breaking up of the spirochaetes into small granules which reach 

 the Malpighian tubules. They also invade the ovary and the ova. It was thought 

 that these granules were the infecting agents and that they were excreted in the 

 fluid of the coxal glands or passed out with the faeces. More recently it has been 

 claimed that these granules have no relation to the infection, which is due to spiro- 

 chaetes as such. At any rate this infection of man seems to be by the contamination 

 method, the material from faeces and coxal glands being rubbed into the wound made 

 by the tick bite. The ticks hide in the cracks about the old native huts and bite the 

 sleeping inmates. There may be quite a local reaction at the site of the bite. 



nly 



FIG. 60. Spirochaetae of relapsing fever from blood of a man. (Kolle and 



Wassermann.) 



Spircchata duttoni has been cultured by Noguchi, by utilizing his methods for 

 culturing the organism of syphilis. In such cultures he has noted longitudinal 

 division rather than transverse, this fact rather favoring a protozoal as against a 

 bacterial nature. This spirochaete is from 24-30 microns long, about 0.45 microns 

 broad and has a corkscrew motility. It is readily transmissible to a number of 

 laboratory animals, as white rats, etc. The spirochaete of northern African re- 

 lapsing fever, S. Berbera causes the disease as seen in north Africa and Egypt. It 

 is transmitted by lice, Nicolle and others having shown that the spirochaetes make 

 their way from the alimentary tract to the body cavity of the louse. They have 

 shown that the bite alone of an infected louse is innocuous and also that the faeces 

 are noninfective, when injected into monkeys. Emulsions of infected lice, however, 

 when rubbed into wounds, produce the disease in monkeys. 



It is by crushing the louse, by scratching or otherwise, that the 

 spirochaetes contained in the ccelomic fluid reach and penetrate the 



