422 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA PUBLIC A. TIONS 



Record 1, p. 59). He found that the smallest worms appeared in lambs of 

 about two months age, and occurred in sheep of all ages, and at all seasons 

 except possibly during the winter months. He was unable to remove the 

 parasite by treatment. He concluded that disease resulting from infection 

 with this parasite was commonly called "loco" disease, and he was scepti- 

 cal regarding the existence of true locoweed poisoning in sheep. He esti- 

 mated that the losses from death of sheep and depreciation due to this 

 . parasite, were enormous, lambs and yearlings suffering chiefly. Practically 

 all Western flocks seemed to be infected but it seemed to be especially com- 

 mon among the descendents of the Mexican or Spanish sheep with which 

 the larger ranches were originally stocked. In all, he found 89 per cent of 

 Western sheep infected. 



He saw the worms in the duodenum and bile ducts, the ducts being so 

 tightly distended with them at times that the worms could not be extracted 

 except in pieces. He also saw the worms in the pancreatic ducts. Thick- 

 ened and dilated ducts were found occasionally with no worms in them. 

 The chief features of the disease produced by the worms were those of pro- 

 gressing malnutrition, or cachexia, with occasional excess of fluid in the 

 serous cavities. In fatal cases death usually was due to starvation, exposure, 

 or intercurrent disease. 



My findings corroborate those of Curtice in certain respects and in addi- 

 tion I have been able to demonstrate a serious lesion of the liver, with the ap- 

 pearance of a necrotic, organizing area in the liver, resembling an infarction; 

 while in one case (No. 4), there was a f ungating liver abscess in connection 

 with an extensive hemorrhagic subdiaphragmatic abscess. In a number of 

 autopsies the microscopic studies demonstrated the presence of a process 

 of fibrosis, more or less advanced, proceeding from around the thickened 

 ducts and extending out into the liver substance. 



In other words, these cases establish a new form of chronic inflammation 

 of the liver, a form distinct from liver fluke disease on the one hand and 

 from the inflammation resulting from gall stone obstruction on the other, for 

 here the tapeworm, Thysanosoma, is responsible for the disease. 



It may also be remarked that vacuolar changes were present in the pan- 

 creatic cells in a case where the pancreatic duct was filled with the tape 

 worm. From the nature of my work it was impossible to determine the 

 clinical course of the disease, but it seemed clear that heavy infections were 

 frequently associated with malnutrition or cachexia.* 



* A description of the microscopic changes in the liver together with a demon- 

 stration of sections was given by me in an article read before the American Association 

 of Pathologists and Bacteriologists at Philadelphia in April, 1912. 



