NEW SPECIES OF PARASITE IN THE HUMAN BODY.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 431, 29 May 1871, Page 2

NEW SPECIES OF PARASITE IN THE HUMAN BODY.

There is considerable excitement and alarm *n this city and vicinity on account of the appearance of a strange disease heretofore unknown to physicians, or, at least, to the physicians of Elgiu. The facts are as follow : —

On last Friday week, Mrs. C. W.Daniels, a lady twenty-two years of age, who was married two years ago, aud gave birth to a child eleven months siuce, was prostrated by what seemeA at first to ho the premonitory symptoms of typhoid fever. She had not been very well for some time previous, but nothing serious was anticipated until Sunday, when she was compelled to take to her bed and placei her.-elf under medical treatment.

Dr. A. S. Clark was called in, and, after a careful diagnosis, cauiefto the conclusion that she was attacked with.^ typhoid fever. She complained of pains in her bones and of soreness in her flesh. Nothing vory unusual, however, was observed until Sunday morning, when _ the milk from her breast attracted attention by its dark colour. Some of it was taken in a bottle to Dr. Clark, for his opinion, and the bearer of it said it looked like the wastings of an ink bottle.

The doctor compared it to very dirty soapsuds, which it resembled very much in colour. To make sure that it was not coloured by anything that was in the bottle, the doctor drew some milk from the breast of the patient himself, and found that it was like that which had been shown him. It struck him as being very peculiar, and he could not account for it m any way that would be satisfactory to himseu or to science.

_ Submitiug the fluid to a microscopic examination, he found not one-tenth as many milkglobules as healthy milk should contain. In it were animalcuire different in sizo and shape from any human parasite of which the doctor had ever heard. They seemed to be somewhat hexagonal in torm—longer one way than the other. They did not seem to have any

head, but were evidently alive, judging from the way in which they moved about. Their size was estimated by the doctor as varying from one thousandth to five hundred thousandth of an inch in diameter. The power of the microscope used varied from 150 to 800 diameters, the former power being required to make the insect visible. They were not trichiwe, as the doctor was acquainted with that form of parasite, and the new kind was much smaller, and of an entirely different shape. Authorities were searched, but none of them gave any clue by which they could be identified, and the doctor and those with whom he consulted were compelled to believe they had discovered a new species of human parasite.

Iv the meantime the patient grew worse. She suffered terribly, and complained of soreness all over her body. Nothing could be done to relieve her. She could not bear a bath, and could hardly brar to be touched. She lingered in agony till yesterday afternoon, at 1 o'clock, when she died. There was some reason at first to believe that the parasites were the product of some disease*)! the breast, and were confined to that locality.. The doctor determined to test the matter, and, anticipating her death, he was prepared to do so. Five minutes after life was extinct, and while the body was still warm, he made an incision in the calf of the leg, and, drawing the lancet, examined the moisture which covered it. He found three of the parasites, only one of which was alive. They were similar, in all respects, to those found in the fluid taken from the breast. He then dissected the tibialis arteris muscle of the leg, including a small portion of the surrounding flesh. The muscle presented a granular appearance, as if covered with grains of sand. These grains, the doctor assumes, were parasites. Ho says that in all his experience nothing like it ever canio under his notice.

The investigations were conducted by Dr. Clark, assisted by Dr. Tyrrel, and neither of them, nor any of the faculty who have been asked their opinion, are able to explain the presence of what they regard as parasitical phenomena. Further examination of the muscle will be made, aud it is expected that some light will be shed upon what is now a mystery. Dr. Clark thinks that the parasites hastened death, if they were nob the immediate cause. While some of the symptoms of typhoid remained to the end, they were aggravated—the pains and soreness and throbbing especially ; and death came sooner and more suddenly thau in cases of unmistakable typhoid.

The baby had beeu pining some time before his mother took sick, but as soon as he was weaned he recovered his health, aud is now more robust than ever. He was not weaned until his mother was confined to her bed. The doctor reports that he examined the child's blood, which was perfectly healthy.

No theory has been found as to the cause of the parasites, aud the skill and knowledge of the physicians seems to be entirely at fault, The patient had not eaten the pork, or anything that was kuowu to be infected iv any way. The case is almost an isolated one. Typhoid has been very prevalent here for some time past, but, with the exception of two or perhaps three cases, no symptoms have been developed similar to those described, and in the exceptions nothing positive has been seen. — Chicago Tribune.