1901.] L. Rogers — Si^ecial Report on Fever in Dinajpnr DUL 47 



It will be seen from this table that the new bodies were found in 

 every case except one, which was improving and in which recovery 

 was expected to take place. They were more frequently present in 

 large numbers in this series than in the Dinajpur cases, but no diifer- 

 ences in the appearances they presented could be made out in the two 

 series. Since these observations were made a paper by Dr. Bentley, of 

 Assam, has appeared announcing that he has also independently found 

 the Leishman-Donovan bodies in Kala-azar cases, and abandoning the 

 theory he advanced so warmly a little over a year ago that Kala-azar 

 was a severe form of Malta fever. ^ 



The importance of these observations lies in the fact which I 

 pointed out several years ago'^ that single cases of the j^ssam epidemic 

 disease were indistinguishable from cases of ordinary " Malarial 

 Cachexia, " so that the discovery that a protozoal parasite (differing 

 from that of malaria and producing the same condition as repeated 

 attacks of malaria causes) is to be found in many cases of " Malarinl 

 Cachexia " and in the communicable form of the disease in Assam 

 will fit in with the known facts. So far the new form of parasite has 

 not been found to contain pigment, so that if this is confirmed, then it 

 will be certain that in both the endemic and the epidemic form of the 

 new fever, malaria must be a nearly universal complication, for 1 

 showed both in Assam in the case of Kala-azar, and in Calcutta in the 

 case of "Malarial Cachexia,"^ that melanotic pigment characteristic 

 of malaria is, in my experience, always to be found in the organs post- 

 mortem in both series or cases. Possibly it may prove that the new 

 parasites are a secondary infection in patients already infected with 

 malaria, which is so well nigh universal in both Eastern Bengal and 

 Assam, but such points can only be cleared up by further investiga- 

 tions. From the practical point of view the most important inference 

 lies in remembering that quinine in large doses is the only drug which 

 will cure these chronic fevers, although it undoubtedly not infrequently 

 fails in neglected cases. Further, as demonstrated by Dr. Dodds Price, 

 of Nowgong,* the drug is undoubtedly an efficient prophylactic against 

 the disease ; for while carrying out the segregation measures I 



1 Bentley on Epidemic Malta fever in Assam, Indian Medical Gazette, Sep- 

 t ember 1902. 



<* Repert on Kala-azar, 1893. 



3 Is malarial cachexia purely malarial ? Indian Medical Gazette, October 

 1902. 



* Note on Kala-azar by Dr. J. Dodds Price. Indian Medical Gazette, October 

 1902. 



