REPORT ON THE WORKING OF THE KING INSTITUTE, GUINDY
37
from a vein I inoculated the whole quantity into the monkey subcutaneously. The smears
from the monkey taken on the following day and again on the next day both proved
negative, but showed the presence of spirilla in the peripheral circulation on the 17th
morning, i.e., 72 hours later. Under instruction from the Director, the monkey was taken
to the King Institute on the 17th.
Case No. 27.—Smear examined and blood inoculated into a mouse at the same time on
the 16th. The smear was positive but the mouse died on the following day.
Experiments with lice.
1. Body lice could not be found in any of the cases I examined. Head lice were fairly
common and in some cases were very abundant.
2. Lice were removed from patients on the fourth, fifth and sixth days of fever, on the
second, fourth and fifth days of relapse and on the sixth, seventh, eighth, tenth, eleventh,
twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and nineteenth days after the cessation of fever. These were
used for the experiment on monkeys stated in paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 infra.
3. One hundred and seventy-five lice spread over these dates were squeezed on slides,
stained and examined microscopically for the presence of spirochætes with a negative result
in every case.
4. Pediculus capitis removed from the heads of patients wore fed on a monkey on
different dates and temperature was recorded from day to day between 22nd April and 8th
May 1922.
5. Another series of lice from the same cases were also crushed and rubbed into abrasions
made on another monkey.
6. A third series of lice were crushed on different dates and injected into a monkey
subcutaneously.
7. The temperature of the monkeys was taken and peripheral blood smears were
examined every day from the 25th April to 8th May. No spirochætes were found in
their blood.
The failure to obtain positive results from the lice experiments detailed above, was
manifestly due to the fact that I was dealing with lice, the majority of which at any rate, were
in an uninfective condition. This view gains strength by the fact that the epidemic had
abated or was fast abating at the time of my enquiry and opportunities for the lice obtaining
infective material had dwindled down considerably.
TABLE I.
Case
number.
Temperature
at the time of
examination.
—
Day of disease. Result of examination
for spirilla.
4
100.2º
Fever of 12 hours' duration ... ... ... First ... ... Negative.
2
99.4
First day of fever . . .
. . .
Do.
... Do.
5
101.2
Do.
... ... ... ... Do. ... ... Do.
12
104
Do. ... ... ..
Do. ... ...
Do
14
100
Do.
... ... .. .. Do. ... ... Do.
19
103
Do. .... ... ...
Do. ... ... Do.
6
104
Second day of fever ... ... .. ... Second ... ... Positive.
22
103
Do.
... ...
Do.
Do.
13
104
Third day of fever ... ... ... .. Third ... ... Do.
21
104.4
Do.
... ... ...
Do. ... ... Do.
11
102.4
Fourth day of fever ... ... ... .. Fourth ...
Do.
16
103
Do.
...
.. ... ...
Do. ... ...
D o .
23
102.6
Do.
... ... ...
Do. ... ... Do.
27
104
Do.
. ... ... ...
Do. ..
... Do.
7
104
Fifth day of fever ... ... ... ...
Fifth
... Do.
9
101.4
Do.
Do.
Do.
18
103.4
Do.
.. ... .. Do. ... ... Do.
24
103.8
Do.
... ...
...
Do. ..
. .
D o .
8
104.4
Sixth day of fever ... ... ... ...
Sixth ... ... Do.
25
103
Do.
Do.
Negative.
28
99.4
Remission second day
... .. .. Eighth . . .
Do.
20
103.4
Relapse second day .. ...
... Twelfth ... ... P o s i t i v e .
17
105
Relapse third day ... ... ... ... Fourteenth
Do.
26
102.6
Relapse fourth day ... ... ... ...
Do.
...
Do.
29
101
Relapse fifth day
... ... ... ... Fifteenth
... Do.
10
104.3
Relapse sixth day ...
... ..
... Seventeenth ... Negative.
3
...
...
Eighteenth ... Do.
15
102
Fever for 20 days ... .. ... ... Twentieth
... Do.
1
...
Convalescent ... ...
... ..
. . .
Do.
10