T. Bentham 
In the second section nothing of importance is to be noted, but the first 
and third are of no small interest, in that they illustrate the endemic nature 
of amoebiasis in Malta and its spread among individuals who are more or less 
compelled to live together under the same conditions and in the same en¬ 
vironment. 
Table II. 
R.A.M.C. Garrison, and Nursing Staff. 
Total No. examined 279 (Men 233, Women 40). 
No. 
-A. 
0/ 
/o 
Infected with: 
Men 
Women 
Total 
Men 
Women 
Entamoeba histolytica ... 
33 
9 
42 
14-1 
19-2 
Free Amoebae (not determined) 
30 
6 
36 
_ 
_ 
Other Protozoa ... 
107 
12 
119 
__ 
Oxyuris vermicularis 
1 
— 
_ 
Total 
15 
12-9 
42-6 
To illustrate the first section (Table II), the following experiment was 
made: 
N.C.O.’s and men of an R.A.M.C. detachment to the number of 147 were 
ordered to provide stools for microscopic examination for animal parasites. 
All these men were of the same company, R.A.M.C., and had been on the 
Island together for about three years. The members of the Sergeants’ Mess, 
including full corporals, numbered thirty; and of these eleven were found to 
be infected "with E. histolytica, giving a percentage of 36’6 on one examination 
only. Two of the sergeants were on the cooking staff. One of these was found 
positive during the above routine examination, and the other was negative 
after xepeated examinations, although he was reputed to be a carrier. Sub¬ 
sequently four members of this Mess were admitted to hospital with acute 
dysentery, although ten members went through an “ambulant” course of 
treatment with emetine hydrochloride (hypodermically) and emetine bismuth 
iodide pills. One of these men eventually died of dysentery from a super¬ 
imposed infection with Shiga’s bacillus. 
The remaining 11/ of this detachment consisted of lance-corporals and 
privates. Only nine cases, after one examination, were found to be carriers 
(7-6 per cent.). Two of them afterwards developed acute symptoms though 
they weie all treated by the ambulant method. These 117 men were employed 
in varied duties, mostly as ward and ablution-room orderlies. The occupations 
of the nine infected men were as follows—butcher (1), registrar’s clerk (1). 
orderly room clerk (2), t ward orderly (3), cook (1), ablution-room orderly (1). 
The source of infection in four of these cases is fairly obvious, in that the men 
were employed in close contact with dysentery cases. The registrar’s clerk 
may have obtained his infection through handling case-sheets. Five cooks 
employed in the same cook-house were infected with Chilomastix. Escape 
from infection by the remaining men is to be attributed to the fact that owing 
to their duties they probably kept their hands cleaner and were more familiar 
with the use of antiseptics. 
f 
