The Washington times., 1919-02-16


liver. II Is pointed out
that very great diff
Guilty IN finding an antidote or serum
for the parasite lies In the fact that
Il Is not bacterium, but an actual animal.
There has not yet been any evidence found
that science can OF ever will be able to
max rom animals a broth that, injected.
viii destroy the same kind Of animals Of
which It was made. The matter Of syn
thetic chemical treatment-such as salvar-
sans still in the land Of vagueness Fur
ther, there Is no present means Of diagnOs-
ing the blood huks disease until an autopsy
can be performed on the victim
In the rice fields the parasite communi-
Gates Itself to man by contact. Il is spread
in many ways. II finds Judgment upon a
grain Of rice, encysts itself, and unless the
rice be thoroughly cooked, passes into q
human host with food. Il infects snails.
slugs, rats and mice and other animals.
These, carrying the tiny worms far aield.
infect with them the water courses and IN
this way they may be borne to bathtubs,
sinks and so on where they come in con-
tact with human epidermis and find lodg-
ment They infect fish, and unless these
be thoroughly cooked, the parasites ind
congenial surroundings in the fish eater.
Il Is in this way that the disease is sup
Although its natural habitat Is water, or
huid, the blood fiuke Is adaptable-as its
use Of a dry rice grain as vehicle shows.
DR.. Cort received from Japan q set Of In.
fected snails. They were in dry dust when
he received them. Yet the snafls revived
when placed IN water and the worms with
them.
Cercaria, the scientific name for one
stage Of the hood fiuke, really means "taii
Of the beast" and was coined to describe
the long tail shown IN the diagram Nor.
biologists have 50 far been unable to dis
tinguish the sexes in the blood luke worm
although It has sex. The female de-
posits her eggs in the animal intestines.
Leiper found four cases Of eggs in man
and three in dogs, fifty eggs all told. Dr.
Cort tells what follows:
Soon after the egg Is placed in water
the shell begins to swell by the activity Of
the miracidium - embryo inside, often
turning completely around. Finally, the
egg bursts by splitting, allowing the mir.
acidium to escape. It swfms actively"
Miracidium really means - little boy"
applied in this case to mean q young, free
swimming liver fuke. The body is cili-
ated; that Is, has hair-lfke appendages by
which 1t moves about seeking for a host
to encyst upon. Just the same as an oyster
solid to attach to, while growing up not
only itself but a shell to live IN safely.
The meracidium has q sharp snout, or
boring spine, by which, when It finds q
mollusk, 1t excavates an entrance or works
its way into the skin Of an animal. The
cercaria stage is now reached. When the
minute animal finds host II drops its tail
and any other prolOngations, and assumes
a spherical shape. In this form of a little
ball it becomes encysted, or coated, with
a comparatively tough resisting layer
One would think that the female dis
toma, having laid eggs which have Matched
out larvae, adults could grow readily
enough from the youngster. But no. Each
young one must encyst on something and
produce other forms by gemmation; that
is, by budding, each bud becoming an In
dependent being. usually at the expense
of the life Of the original mother It looks
very much as If the female did all OF the
work and that it costs her life. While she
creeps out to lay her eggs the fortunate
male can lead his own life Of destruction
of humans and other animals without both
ering to move.
The fish morphOlogists have worked out
the operations Of these intestinal parasites
to far more definite and working conclu-
sion than have the workers on mammal
parasitic worms. DR.. Edwin P Linton,
biologist Of the Washington and Jefferson
College, in his Notes on the Flesh Para
sites Of Marine Food Fishes" says:
"In Bermuda I found numerous round
worms, nematodes, in the flesh Of the gar
fish. They were crowded with ova and
young the latter very minute, very acti-e
and in vast numbers. What would be the
result II eaten in insufficiently cooked
fish? If. like the dread trichina, they can
resist the digestive juices Of the human
stomach, they might easily penetrate the
mucous membrane and, carried by the
blood, finally lodge in congenial tissues OF
the body, to become encysted.
"Nematodes are very resistant to diges-
tive fluids, and they are very near the pop
ular conception Of the word worm
1t is a well-known fact that many diseased
conditions, and even epidemics, result
from the presence Of parasites, and, fur.
Their, that the parasites, as a rule, are In
troduced either Is eggs or larvae, along
with the food"