Gr. H. F. Nuttall 
91 
time, the place where the tick had fastened developed into a large sore, 
highly inflamed and swollen, and eventually produced a core like a 
boil. From the first thei’e was a small opening from which exuded 
a colourless liquid, but at the end pus was found for a week or more. 
To make sure of the diagnosis a physician was consulted, a man 
who has had several years’ practice here. He declared it unmistakeably 
a tick-bite and prescribed a corrosive sublimate wash, and an ointment 
of Peruvian balsam and iodoform. Blood-smears showed the blood to 
be normal. 
As I stated above, the ticks in question were larvae of B. annulatus 
decoloratus. A short time before, a herd of cattle grazing on the area 
where the ticks were picked up, contained several animals in which our 
Veterinary Surgeon found Spirochaeta theileri. The ticks found on 
these cattle include also Rhipicephaliis evertsi and Amblyomvia hebraeum, 
but B. annulatus decoloratus is by far the commonest, the other two 
being comparatively rare. Do you think there is a possibility that the 
Spirochaeta might be transmitted from the cattle to man ? 
At the time of her illness Mrs — had been in South Africa only 
12 weeks. She had never before had fever of any sort, nor has she had 
it since. The infection occurred in November, a non-malarial and 
non-mosquito month here. She was living in a house very thoroughly 
mosquito-proofed and in a part of the town where Anopheles are 
extremely rare. So it cannot be considered as a case of malaria. 
Some little time before this, the wife of a Transvaal official from 
Pretoria was vi.siting in Louren^o Marques, and in the same place 
^flcked up some ticks, four of which succeeded in attacliing themselves. 
On her return to Pretoria, and in exactly eight days after picking up 
the ticks, she came down with fever. In her case, the fever seemed to 
come on alternating days and also during alternating weeks, extending 
in all over a month. The tick-bites produced large sores. Severe 
depression and extreme headache accompanied the fever. This lady' 
also had never been exposed to mosquito bites, and her visit here vvas 
during July when no Anopheles were about. 
Since that time I have heard of four other cases of fever following 
tick-bites, all of them showdng similar symptoms to those of Mrs —. 
I am also told that in the vicinity of Grahamstown there is a place 
where the ticks always produce fever. 
Apparently, it is only th^ one species of tick which produces the 
fever, for a few days ago Mrs — again picked up some larval ticks in 
a field where some goats often feed. In spite of her anxious endeavour 
