Parasites: New Disease Theory.

Otago Witness, Issue 2785, 31 July 1907, Page 76

Parasites : New Disease Theory.

Professor H. B. Ward has advanced » theory of the cause of disease that is likely to prove of great interest in the medical world. Most cases of typhoid fever and appendicitis are caused, he informs us, by a simple parasite in the intestines, which introduces, the infecting bacillus into the body. The professor bases his conclusions on investigations made by himself and by a large number of French scientists, whose work he has been collecting. These parasites are common — in fact, investigations that have been made show that there are few human bodies that do not contain them in one form or another. The simple pinworm is a common enough example. The discovery is likely to lead, says Professor Ward, to a wide difference in the treat* ment of typhoid and appendicitis. The first step in either case will be to clean out th© intestines, to relieve the body of the parasites that have introduced the infecting microbes. Some of these parasites are of *

passive character,.- producing- no abnormal effects. . Others are responsible for many ofi th© diseases to wfiioh human flesh is heir? Not only do the human^and- the lower, animals harboiir Siany worms, but theseworms inytbemselvfes. arei<>ften infested with? germs which, in turn, Jjead to disease .in the original host. A scientist named Pi&nn noted, many years ago, that the migration* of a certain worm' into "the liver of a.' rabbit could, introduce disease germ* there* in. In, two cases-of consumption, end peritonitis of a dog^ it is, asserted'';tha't the migration of .an organism kn'6wn a> a nomatdde carried'-Vfih !{£ the germ, "which produced the disease-/ ~ >■ ' -"