32 
Philippine Journal of Science 
1920 
INFECTIONS WITH PROTOZOA AND PARASITES OTHER 
THAN HELMINTHS 
Spirochxta eurygyrata . — This parasite was first reported 
from the Philippine Islands by Crowell and Haughwout,(l2) 
who found it in 73 per cent of a series of adult Filipino patients 
studied in the Philippine General Hospital. In the present 
series, it was detected in 61 per cent of the cases, the earliest 
infection having been found in a boy 7 months old. Spiro- 
chsetes occurred to the exclusion of all other parasites in eight 
cases, none of them more than 2 years of age. Study of these 
cases as presented to us failed to yield any evidence on which 
to base an opinion regarding their harmfulness. We have no- 
ticed, however, that the spirochsetes seem to flourish exceedingly 
in the faeces of patients suffering from bacillary dysentery or 
cholera. In such stools they are frequently present in enonnous 
numbers, often appearing in tangled masses or agglomerations. 
We have in mind one particularly striking case of a male child, 
5 years old, admitted with bronchopneumonia and showing 
meningitic symptoms and marked abdominal distention. Fresh 
preparations of the fseces were literally alive with spirochsetes 
from 10 jit to 15 /i in length. Preparations kept in the moist 
chamber still showed actively motile spirochsetes at the end of 
twenty-four hours. On the night following admission, the 
child had several convulsions and died in one of them. The 
case was looked upon with suspicion at the time, and autopsy 
and bacteriological examination showed the child to have died 
of Asiatic cholera. This case is not included in our series, 
however, for the reason that only one examination of its fseces 
was made. Several severe cases of ileocolitis showed the same 
luxuriant growth of spirochsetes. 
This parasite is of wide geographical distribution and fre- 
quent occurrence, and the tendency has been to regard it as 
nonpathogenic. Some writers, however, regard it with suspi- 
cion. Nevertheless, we believe that in some instances it may 
behave in a manner similar to that attributed to certain of the 
flagellated protozoa. Fantham(i7) has described the penetra- 
tion of shed epithelial cells from the intestinal wall by this 
spirochsete, adding that in this position the spirochsetes some- 
times produce their resting coccoid bodies. If this really oc- 
curs, there is ground for the belief that under certain conditions 
the spirochsetes may penetrate the epithelial cells in situ and 
incidentally do damage to the mucous membrane. 
Crowell and Haughwout have suggested that Spirochseta 
