57 



I would call attention to the similar obser-vations recently made 

 in Holland by Kuenen (1918)— considered more fully on p. 60; 

 and I would emphasize once more two of the important facts 

 which the present reports have revealed. These are, first, that 

 intestinal protozoa are far from uncommon in British children, 

 in whom they occur even in the first year of life. The statement 

 of Matthews and Smith (1919, p. 364 n.) that ' liability to infection 

 does not appear to occur until the child has entered his second 

 year ' can no longer be regarded as a true proposition (see p. 52) ; 

 and the possibility of infection at a very early age will in future 

 always have to be considered in any discussion of the means by 

 which intestinal protozoa are disseminated. Secondly, we now 

 know that females are not less subject to infection than males ; 

 and that domestic servants, cooks, and other female members of 

 the household may harbour E. histolytica and other protozoa. 



We have seen also (p. 45) that the purveyors of food for 

 domestic consumption — such as butchers and bakers — are also 

 sometimes infected withE. histolytica and other intestinal protozoa, 

 and they can certainly acquire such prganisms without going 

 abroad. There is also some evidence that people who are closely 

 associated for considerable periods, and under conditions which 

 are not sanitarily perfect, are apparently apt to acquire infections 

 from one another. At all events, the high rates of infection found 

 among colliers (see p. 45) and the inmates of lunatic asylums 

 (p. 46) appear to point in this direction. 



It appears more than probable that all the common intestinal 

 protozoa of man occur indigenously in Britain ; and with obvious 

 sources of contagion close at hand it thus appears no longer 

 necessary to seek a foreign origin for every case of protozoal 

 infection found in this country. 



CHAPTER V. RECENT OBSERVATIONS ON THE OCCUR- 

 RENCE OF E. HISTOLYTICA IN FRANCE, HOLLAND, 

 AND GERMANY. 



A DISCUSSION of the occurrence of E. histolytica and the other 

 intestinal protozoa of man in Europe generally, does not properly 

 come within the scope of the present Report. But since Britain 

 is a part of Europe, and since the British findings are of more 

 than local interest, it seems to me desirable to consider, before 

 I end, some comparable findings which have been recorded by 

 our nearest European neighbours. I shall therefore give here, as 

 briefly as possible, the recent results obtained, along similar lines, 

 by workers in France, Holland, and Germany — these being the 

 only adjacent countries from which, so far as I am aware, any 

 information is yet available. 



No comprehensive survey of the intestinal protozoa harboured 

 by the native population appears to have been j^et attempted in 

 any European country save Britain ; and it has seemed to me 



