526 SPIROCHETAL OR INFECTIVE JAUNDICE 



has been worked out fairly fully. The disease is characterised 

 by irregular pyrexia, often severe jaundice, which usually 

 appears about the fourth day of illness and may become 

 very marked, a tendency to haemorrhage from mucous surfaces 

 and into the tissues, hemorrhagic herpes, etc., albuminuria, 

 and various other symptoms. Its occurrence in small 

 epidemics had been previously noted, members of the same 

 family or groups of soldiers in barracks being not infre- 

 quently affected ; in Japan it was found to occur amongst 

 workers in the same part of a mine. It has occurred during 

 the war amongst the troops in France, and the results of the 







■ 



. 



Fig. 161. — Specimens of spirochete ictero-haemorrhagias, as seen in 

 sections of a suprarenal of an infected guinea-pig. Stained by 

 Levaditi's method. 



(From apreparation by Major 3. W. M'Nee, R.A.M.C.) xlOOO. 



Japanese workers have been confirmed by bacteriologists in both 

 the British and French armies. It has also been found on the 

 Italian front and amongst the German troops. The infection 

 has thus had a wide distribution during the war, but the 

 mortality has been much lower than that met with in Japan. 



Morphology of the Spirochete. — The organism in the blood 

 and tissues measures 6-9 //. in length, but both shorter and 

 longer forms occur, and about -25 jx in thickness ; that is, it is a 

 slender organism of about the thickness of the sp. pallida. In 

 cultures it may grow into much longer threads. It is somewhat 

 thicker in the middle and tapers towards the ends, which may 

 be pointed, but there are no terminal flagella ; its substance 

 may appear somewhat granular. It presents usually several 



