Chemo-therapeutic trypanosome studies with special reference to the immunity following cure / by B.T. Terry.

  • Terry, B. T. (Benjamin Taylor), 1876-
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Chemo-therapeutic trypanosome studies with special reference to the immunity following cure / by B.T. Terry. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    57/78 (page 53)
    1. In the conditions of the experiment in \Yhich the separation was attempted, there is nothing to explain a faihire. We note that the tests were made early, that the injections were intraperitoneal, and that the nvimber of trypanosomes introduced was great enough to infect within twenty-four hours but not large enough to give any ground for suspecting that the immunity had been over- powered. From this we see that all of the conditions for a success- ful separation were present. 2. It is unnecessary to assume a failure in order to explain the result, for, as we have already seen, to the form of treatment here employed, surra is unusually sensitive, and in one instance in the prophylactic experiments, an inoculation of this virus on the sixth day after treatment, failed to infect (mouse 9, page 21). If the second mouse in the above experiment were equally resistant, the result would be fully explained without assuming that the separa- tion had failed. Moreover, we apparently have evidence that in this experiment the influence of unexcreted medicament was quite strong, for although the mouse tested with surra of Mauritius had no initial resistance (infection within twenty-four hours), the par- asites were present in it for one day only, then disappeared and the animal recovered completely. The quickness Avith which this mouse became negative seems to indicate that the influence of the medicament was very strong. TRYPANOSOMES OF COMMON ORIGIN. While the separation of surra of India from surra of Mauritius seems to be attended with no great difficulty, the tests of the purity of the separated strains are most uncertain, for even when known to be pure the parasites of these two infections react towards each other in an inconstant way. As a consequence, even if the trypanosomes are separated successfully, we must expect that the tests will at times indicate the contrary. The experiments with the two surras follow. 6/[Af], or Surra of India Separated from Surra of Mauritius.— To effect the separation, the mixture was inoculated into mice immunized to surra of Mauritius.