A case of filaria sanguinis hominis nocturna / by Charles Williams.

  • Williams, Charles, 1827-1907.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A case of filaria sanguinis hominis nocturna / by Charles Williams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    charged with chyle and generally full of filaria;. If the block is in the lymphatics of the spermatic cord, hydrocele occurs, the fluid of which is similar to milk, and from that circum- stance, termed galactocele. A filaria-infested subject is very liable to occasional attacks resembling ague, but they differ in that they do not obey the ordinary laws of periodicity, they occur sometimes at long intervals, as may be noticed in the case which has been under my observation. Dr. Manson supposes that these attacks of fever are produced by some irregularity in parturition; that the parent filaria has miscarried, and he thinks this may be brought about by the exposed position which the worm often occupies in the legs or scrotum ; its liability to injury from mechanical violence, by the sicknesses of the host, his fever and blood- poisoning ; the miscellaneous foods he consumes, some of which may act on the uterus of the worm as they act on that of the human subject. When abortion takes place, the ova leave the parent as ova, not as fully formed filarial; and as the diameter of the ovum is five times greater than the breadth of the fully-formed embryo, it follows that lymphatic vessels smaller than the ovum get blocked, and embolism must take place. The result of this is lymphatic obstruction, cedema, and oozing of lymph from the surface, be it skin, mucous, or serous membrane, then disease follows, especially tumefaction of skin, which, in course of time, assumes the character of elephantiasis. On this point Dr. Manson truly observes, Enough has been advanced to show in what way all the phenomena of elephan- toid disease may be explained by the theory that the parent parasite is the prime cause; premature birth of the ovum the second; and infarction of the lymphatic glands by the ova the immediate cause. I will now refer to the subject of the sheath which encloses the body of the embryo filaria, and which plays an important part in the history of the parasite. It forms a