1582 RHINOSPORIDIOSIS AND SARCOSPORIDIOSIS 



genuine case in Egypt. In 1894 Baraban and St. Remy found 

 these parasites in the laryngeal muscles of a man who had been 

 executed. In 1902 Rosenberg reported a doubtful case, and 

 Kartulis another doubtful case. In 1903 Et. and Ed. Sergent 

 described a parasite which later was called SergenteUa hominis 

 Brumpt, 1910, in the blood {vide p. 537), and in 1905 Castellani and 

 Willey described rather different bodies also in the blood (vide 

 PP- 537 and 538). which they were inclined to consider of protozoal 

 origin, and later similar, but somewhat larger, forms were found 

 by Castellani and Sturgess in the blood of Bos indicus (Fig. 189, 

 p. 531)- In 1909 Darling described a case of sarcosporidiosis in a 

 Barbadian negro in which the parasite appeared to be Sarcocystis 

 muris Blanchard. 



Climatology. — Sarcosporidiosis being only a chance infection in 

 man, and the parasite normally occurring in monkeys, buffaloes, 

 cattle, sheep, pigs, rats, and other animals, it is obvious that not 

 merely will the disease be very widespread, but that different 

 varieties will occur in the different zoological regions. The cases 

 so far described are in Central America, Europe, and Egypt, and 

 doubtful cases in Algeria and Ceylon. We are suspicious that 

 the Ceylon case may have some connection with 5. tenellcB, var. 

 hithalis Willey, Chalmers, and Philip, 1904, which is very com- 

 monly found in buffalo meat in Ceylon. 



.ffitiology. — ^The causation of sarcosporidiosis is the presence of 

 some species of sarcocystis in man, but the method of entry is not 

 obvious. It would seem possible that eating undercooked meat 

 infected with Sarcocystis might produce the infection, as Darling 

 has shown that guinea-pigs can be infected by fee-ding them with 

 rat's muscle containing S. muris, and by feeding them with the 

 ripe sporozoites of the same species. In our opinion this is a very 

 probable method of chance infection, because the buffalo meat in 

 Ceylon is heavily infected [vide p. 531). 



Morbid Anatomy. — ^The spores can be found in the blood and the 

 parasites in the muscle fibres. 



Symptomatology. — ^The incubation period in animals appears to 

 be very long, some 152 to 164 days. During the invasion the 

 patient suffers from an irregular fever, which may resemble enteric 

 fever, and in severe cases this fever may be complicated with 

 myositis and even necrosis of the muscles. 



Diagnosis. — ^The symptoms are those of an irregular fever, which 

 in some cases may be typhoidal-like, and in others of a very low 

 type without much general disturbance, while some cases may 

 never show pyrexia. The nature of these fevers may be suspected 

 by finding bodies resembling the spores of Sarcocystis (vide Fig. 189, 

 p. 531) in the blood. Failing this, and especially if there are any 

 signs of myositis, the diagnosis can be cleared by excision and 

 examination of a piece of diseased muscle. 



Prognosis. — ^This is good after the parasites have become quies- 

 cent, for no one has so far been known to die of the disease. 



