CASE OF DYSENTERY CAUSED BY BALANTIDIUM COLI 

 WITH COINCIDENT FILARIAL INFARCTION 

 OF THE SPLEEN.^ 



By Feed B. Bowman. 

 {From the Biological Laboratory, Bureau of Science, Manila, P. I.) 



The clinical history and protocol of the following case illustrate very 

 well the very serious nature of infection with Balantidium coli. In a 

 previous paper ^ I reported two cases and there is a great similarity 

 between one of these and that about to be reported, both in the clinical 

 history and the findings at autopsy. 



The case was found during the routine examination of faeces at Bilibid 

 Prison, Manila, and was immediately placed under observation in the 

 hospital. The patient, when admitted to the hospital, complained only 

 of mild diarrhoea. He rapidly recovered without any medicinal treat- 

 ment, the parasites disappeared from the stool, and he was returned to 

 duty. One month later (August 17) the patient was again admitted 

 to the hospital, complaining of pain in the chest, cough, bloody 

 diarrhoea, and fever. Tempera tiire on entrance, 40°. I was unable to 

 follow the case closely for a few days, but the temperature gradually 

 became lower and he seemed to be improving until August 26, when his 

 temperature again began to rise, the pulse became weak and respiration 

 more rapid. On August 30 I examined him and made the following 

 notes : 



The patient is a male Filipino, age 40, with no history of previous illness 

 except occasional attacks of diarrhoea during the past year. He appears to be 

 in almost a collapsed condition and is roused with difficulty and then can not 

 answer questions. 



He is hiccoughing regularly and coughs occasionally, bringing up large amounts 

 of greenish-white material, greenish flakes, and some blood-stained mucus. 



The tong-ue is heavily coated and the breath foul. The eyes are protruded 

 and the pupils dilated. The face is distorted as if from great pain. 



There is some pulsation of the vessels of the neck. The pulse is weak and 



* Read at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Philippine Islands Medical As- 

 sociation, Manila, February 24, 1911. 

 'This Journal, Sec. B. (1909), 4, 417. 



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