. Preventive medicine and hygiene. chete inapparently healthy wild rats caught near the infected districts seemsto support the theory that the disease was originally epizootic amongcertain rodents, particularly wild rats, and after a long sojourn in thisspecies of hosts, its virulence for these animals has been reduced to suchan extent as to cause the latter no inconvenience; or, at least, a state of 1256 MILITAEY HYGIENE tolerance for the spirochete has developed. In America, especially inthe United States, there have been but few cases of infectious jaundicereported from various quarters of
. Preventive medicine and hygiene. chete inapparently healthy wild rats caught near the infected districts seemsto support the theory that the disease was originally epizootic amongcertain rodents, particularly wild rats, and after a long sojourn in thisspecies of hosts, its virulence for these animals has been reduced to suchan extent as to cause the latter no inconvenience; or, at least, a state of 1256 MILITAEY HYGIENE tolerance for the spirochete has developed. In America, especially inthe United States, there have been but few cases of infectious jaundicereported from various quarters of the continent (Toronto, Middle West-ern and Southern United States) and from Cuba. V/eils disease is probably a primary infection of rats and secondarilytransmitted to man. The infection is not very serious to the rat. Thecause of the disease is Spirochacta ictero-liemorrhagica, described l:)yInada and Ido in 1914. These investigators succeeded in reproducingthe disease in guinea pigs by inoculating them with the blood of patients. Fig. 191.—Diagram of Spieochetes in Guinea-pig Liver, Stained by LevaditisMethod. {^BritishMedical Journal, Sept. 23, 1916.) suffering from the Japanese form of infectious jaundice. The guineapigs developed jaundice, hemorrhages, albuminuria, etc. The spirocheteoccurs in the blood and organs of both animal and human infections,and according to the subsequent work of Noguclii and others, is un-doubtedly the cause of the disease. ISToguchi ^ found the same spirochete in the kidnevs of wild rats ofthe United States. Hence, there is the potential possibility of the diseasein our troops. Weil believed that the infection came through the alimentary supports this view. Ido and Oki have noticed that the disease 1 Nogiichi suggests a new genus, Leptospira, on account of the distinctivefeatures of this spirochete. Jour, of Exp. Med., May 1, 1917, XXV,- No. 5. DISEASES OF THE SOLDIER 1257 sometimes begins with a local swelling of the lymph glands,
Size: 1587px × 1574px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorwh, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecthygiene
