540 



NEOSPORIDIA 



discharge of non-gonorrhoeal origin, or the cells from the discharge 

 in certain forms of conjunctivitis, they can be seen to contain 

 peculiar masses of granules which are grouped into oval or roundish 

 bodies, measuring 2 to 6 ^ in transverse or maximum diameter. 

 The individual granules measure 0-5 to i in diameter, and stain a 

 purplish-red colour with Giemsa or Leishman's preparations. These 

 granules appear to be embedded in a pale bluish matrix. 



Life-History.— The smallest form or elementary body is merely a 

 minute speck of chromatin, apparently without any cytoplasm, 

 which lives extracellularly, but may enter a cell. This entry into 

 the cell is not a process of phagocytosis, as may be shown by the 

 absence of the usual vacuole, and by the fact that they do not show 

 the usual yellow coloration when stained by neutral red. Inside 

 the cell the elementary body grows in size, and becomes the initial- 

 body, which becomes surrounded by the mantle, and thus forms the 

 cell inclusion. This body now breaks up into a number of small 

 bodies called initial corpuscles, which divide by simple division — 

 i.e., by the formation of dumb-bell form.s, the two ends of which 

 simply move apart until the connecting thread is broken. The 

 result of the division of the initial corpuscles is the elementary body. 

 In this way the life-cycle is completed. 



Comparison. — ^It will thus be seen that the Chlamydozoa are the 

 granules inside the body of the Cytorycfes variolcB or the Neuroryctes 

 hydrophobice, and that the whole organism of these two forms corre- 

 sponds to the mantle and parasite of the chlamydozoon. 



Pathogenicity. — They are believed to be the cause of smallpox, 

 vaccinia, trachoma, Samoan epitheliosis, hydrophobia, scarlet 

 fever, etc. 



Classification. — ^The Chlamydozoa are classified into : — • 



A. Chlamydozoa vera. 



Chlamydozoa, which commences as elementary bodies 

 from cell inclusions. 



1. Cytoryctes group — 'Cause destruction of the cell. 



2. Cytooikon group — -cause proliferation of the cell. 



3. Gelbsucht group — -cause galbsucht in the Lepidoptera. 



B. Chlamydozoa strongyloplasmata. 



Chlamydozoa, which always remain as elementary bodie? 

 — e.g., the forms in the peripneumonia of cattle and 

 the diphtheria in birds. 



Only the Cytoryctes and Cytooikon groups concern us. 



The Cytorycfes Group. 

 It is important to distinguish between the Chlamydozoon of such 

 a disease as smallpox and the parasite Cytoryctes variolcB. The 

 Chlamydozoon is one of the chromatic particles of C. variolce, the 

 protoplasm of which forms the mantle. The Cytoryctes group in- 

 cludes the parasites of — 



