Nematoda

Ancylostomiasis.—Treatment: (1) Oleum chenopodii (U.S.P.), dose ♏ x to ♏ xv on a lump of sugar, three doses at two-hourly intervals, preceded and followed by a purge. It is cheap, not unpleasant to take, and non-toxic. Effective also against Ascaris lumbricoides.

(2) Milk of the higueron Ficus laurifolia. A spoonful in milk, three times daily for three days followed by a purge. Described as a harmless but very successful form of treatment.

Ground-itch.—Completely cured in a few days by a 3 per cent. solution of salicylic acid in ethyl alcohol. Apply for five minutes twice daily.

Ascaris lumbricoides can be kept alive for twelve days in Kronecker’s solution; NaOH 0·069 grammes, normal saline 1,000 c.c.

Eggs are laid and develop in about a fortnight at ordinary room temperature. At 70° C. they are readily killed.

Filariasis.—Dutcher and Whitmarsh have cultivated from the blood and from the exudation fluids of cases of filariasis (elephantiasis, lymphangitis, etc.), in about sixteen cases, a bacillus resembling B. subtilis. Controls were negative. They propose the name Bacillus lymphangiticus for this organism, and they believe it to be the cause of the diseases grouped under the designation “filariasis.”

Oncocerca volvulus.—Unsheathed embryos (indistinguishable from those taken from the uterus of this worm) have been found in lymphatic glands and in the blood (if considerable pressure is used so as to squeeze out lymph at the time of taking the finger blood, otherwise none occurs in the specimens). The measurements in dried films are: Nerve ring 23·7 per cent. of length; G1 cell 69·6 per cent.; end of last tail cell 96·3 per cent; total length 274·3 µ.

Strongyloides stercoralis.—Pathology: They occur in the wall of the intestine and may be associated with ulceration. They also occur in lymphatics and blood-vessels.