The diagnosis of latent malaria / by Hugh W. Acton and R. Knowles.
- Acton, Hugh W. (Hugh William), 1883-1935.
- Date:
- 1913]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The diagnosis of latent malaria / by Hugh W. Acton and R. Knowles. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![[Reprinted from the Indian Journal of Medical Research, Vol. T, No. 1.] a SP CE SS SS ET TO II I TE EL LT I TI OEE LETT I IL LL ET SLE LL I ET TL THE DIAGNOSIS OF LATENT MALARIA* BY Caprain HUGH W, ACTON, Lm™.s, Officiating Director, Pasteur Institute of India, AND Caprain R. KNOWLES, Lm s., Assistant Director, Pasteur Institute of India, Tue object of our research has been to see if it is possible to diagnose malaria in the latent period, 7.e., when parasites are absent or very few in number in the peripheral blood. Plehn,? Christophers and Stephens,’ Thomson’ and others consid- ered that circumstantial evidence was given, in the diagnosis of this condition, by the presence or absence of urobilin in the urine or feeces, and by alterations in the number and variety of the leucocytes. We have, therefore, directed our attention chiefly to these two points, viz., the urobilin and leucocytes. But before proceeding to the results of our investigation we must first define exactly what is meant by latency. “ The latent period in malarial fever may be defined as that afebrile period in a malarial infec- tion when parasites are still active in the peripheral blood or deeper vessels, but are not present in the asexual stage in sufficient numbers to cause fever.” According to this definition there may be three distinct phases of laSency present in an infection, viz. :-— (1) The latent period of incubation.—This includes all the afebrile. days from the introduction of the sporozoites by the. mosquito until the asexual parasites are sufficiently numer- ous to cause the first attack of fever. This period varies. in the different forms of malaria; in malignant tertian * Read at the Malaria Conference held at Madras in Noy, 1912, f— ]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33435959_0003.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
