Filaria loa 7 



Fenton was good enough to send for my use, gives nothing 

 which absohitely confirms the diagnosis so far as the species is 

 concerned, yet the details conform fully with F. loa, and the 

 mention of such items as the well-known cuticular bosses makes 

 the case reasonably certain. Both specimens were lost. The 

 first and larger specimen, of which accurate measurements were 

 made, was 55 mm. long and 0.5 mm. in diameter; the other was 

 only 45 mm. long. The following data regarding the case are 

 taken directly from correspondence from Dr. Fenton : 



"I\Irs. M., aet. 48, was an educated and refined woman, the 

 wife of a missionary. Prior to 1897 she had resided for several 

 years at Batanga, seventy miles inland on the Gaboon river. 

 She first noticed trouble after returning to England in March, 

 1897. One arm and wrist became greatly swollen and remained 

 so for several months, causing considerable inconvenience owing 

 to degree of swelling, but little if any pain. On subsidence of 

 the swelling, the part remained 'black and blue' for a long time. 

 At times she suffers from fever, pains in back, and general 

 malaise ; there were occasional lancinating pains, as if the worm 

 were cutting its way through the tissues. 



'T saw her in September, 1898, with Dr. J. L. Davison, who 

 had tried to remove one and failed from want of assistance. 

 The outline of the worm could be plainly seen, lying beneath the 

 skin of the upper eyelid. If touched, and at times when not irri- 

 tated, it would wiggle through the tissues like a snake. The skin 

 of the lid including the worm was grasped firmly with a pair of 

 dissecting forceps and an incision made transversely, when the 

 worm was seen lying at the bottom of the wound, looking like a 

 fiddle string or a piece of silkworm gut, and was easily picked 

 up and pulled out with a pair of forceps. It rapidly became stifif 

 and hard after removal and was found to be 55 mm. long and 

 0.5 mm. in diameter, one extremity ending in a hook-like process, 

 while the other is simply rounded ofif without any apparent thick- 

 ening. In December of the same year I removed another, 45 

 mm. in length, from the lower lid, and in the spring of 1899 

 failed in an attempt to secure another. 



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