Jump to content

Page:Tropical Diseases.djvu/746

From Wikisource
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
694
FILARIASIS
[CHAP.

enormous increase in the size (to 1/16 in.) and activity of the young parasite. The filariæ now quit the thorax.

A few find their way to the abdomen, where, in properly prepared sections, they may occasionally be seen in the tissues around the stomach, and even among the eggs at the posterior part of the abdomen. The vast majority pass forwards by the prothorax and neck, and, entering the head, coil themselves up

Fig. 104.—Section of thoracic muscles of mosquito about twelve days after it had fed on a filariated patient. (From a microphotograph by Mr. Spitta.)

close to the base of the proboscis and beneath the pharynx and under-surface of the cephalic ganglia. Low, in sections prepared at the London School of Tropical Medicine from filariated mosquitoes sent to me by Bancroft of Australia, has shown that the filaria in its future progress finds its way into the proboscis; an observation which has been confirmed by James in India, Annett and Button in West Africa, Bahr in Fiji, and others elsewhere.