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Transcriber's Note
The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
American Nature Series
Group IV. Working with Nature
INSECTS AND DISEASE
A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE WAY IN WHICH INSECTS MAY SPREAD OR CAUSE SOME OF OUR COMMON DISEASES
WITH MANY ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
BY
RENNIE W. DOANE, A.B.
Assistant Professor of Entomology Leland Stanford Junior University
LONDON
CONSTABLE & COMPANY LIMITED
1910
COPYRIGHT, 1910,
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
Published August, 1910
THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS
RAHWAY, N.J.
PREFACE
The subject of preventive medicine is one that is attracting world-wide attention to-day. We can hardly pick up a newspaper or magazine without seeing the subject discussed in some of its phases, and during the last few years several books have appeared devoted wholly or in part to the ways of preventing rather than curing many of our ills.
Looking over the titles of these articles and books the reader will at once be impressed with the importance that is being given to the subject of the relation of insects to some of our common diseases. As many of these maladies are caused by minute parasites or microbes the zooelogists, biologists and physicians are studying with untiring zeal to learn what they can in regard to the development and habits of these organisms, and the entomologists are doing their part by studying in minute detail the structure and life-history of the insects that are concerned. Thus many important facts are being learned, many important observations made. The results of the best of these investigations are always published in technical magazines or papers that are usually accessible only to the specialist.
This little book is an attempt to bring together and place in untechnical form the most important of these facts gathered from sources many of which are at present inaccessible to the general reader, perhaps even to many physicians and entomologists.
In order that the reader who is not a specialist in medicine or entomology may more readily understand the intimate biological relations of the animals and parasites to be discussed it seems desirable to call attention first to their systematic relations and to review some of the important general facts in regard to their structure and life-history. This, it is believed, will make even the most complex special interrelations of some of these organisms readily understandable by all. Those who are already more or less familiar with these things may find the bibliography of use for more extended reading.
My thanks are due to Prof. V.L. Kellogg for reading the manuscript and offering helpful suggestions and criticisms.
Unless otherwise credited the pictures are from photographs taken by the author in the laboratory and field. As many of these are pictures of live specimens it is believed that they will be of interest as showing the insects, not as we think they should be, but as they actually are. Mr. J.H. Paine has given me valuable aid in preparing these photographs.
R.W.D.
Stanford University, California,
March, 1910.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I PAGE
PARASITISM AND DISEASE 1
Definition of a parasite, 1; examples among various animals, 2; Parasitism, 3; effect on the parasite, 4; how a harmless kind may become harmful, 5; immunity, 6; Diseases caused by parasites, 7; ancient and modern views, 7; Infectious and contagious diseases, 8; examples, 9; importance of distinguishing, 9; Effect of the parasite on the host, 9; microbes everywhere, 10; importance of size, 11; numbers, 11; location, 11; mechanical injury, 12; morphological injury, 13; physiological effect, 13; the point of view, 14.
CHAPTER II
BACTERIA AND PROTOZOA 15
Bacteria, 15; border line between plants and animals, 15; most bacteria not harmful, 15; a few cause disease, 15; how they multiply, 15; parasitic and non-parasitic kinds, 17; how a kind normally harmless may become harmful, 18; effect of the bacteria on the host, 18; methods of dissemination, 18; Protozoa, 19; Amoeba, 19; its lack of special organs, 19; where it lives, 19; growth and reproduction, 19; Classes of Protozoa, 20; the amoeba-like forms, 20; the flagellate forms, 20; importance of these, 21; the ciliated forms, 22; the Sporozoa or spore-forming kinds, 22; these most important, 23; abundance, 23; adaptability, 23; common characters, 24; ability to resist unfavorable conditions, 24.
CHAPTER III
TICKS AND MITES 26
Ticks, 26; general characters, 27; mouth-parts, 27; habits, 27; life-history, 27; Ticks and disease, 28; Texas fever, 28; its occurrence in the north, 28; carried by a tick, 29; loss and methods of control, 31; other diseases of cattle carried by ticks, 31; Rocky Mountain spotted fever, 32; its occurrence, 32; probably caused by parasites, 32; relation of ticks to this disease, 33; Relapsing Fever, 33; its occurrence, 34; transmitted by ticks, 34; Mites, 35; Face-mites, 35; Itch-mites, 36; Harvest-mites, 37.
CHAPTER IV
HOW INSECTS CAUSE OR CARRY DISEASE 40
Numbers, 40; importance, 41; losses caused by insects, 41; loss of life, 42; The flies, 43; horse-flies, 43; stable-flies, 44; surra, 45; nagana, 45; black-flies, 46; punkies, 46; screw-worm flies, 47; blow-flies, 48; flesh-flies, 48; fly larvae in intestinal canal, 49; bot-flies, 50; Fleas, 52; jigger-flea, 53; Bedbugs, 54; Lice, 54; How insects may carry disease, 55; in a mechanical way, 55; as one of the necessary hosts of the parasite, 56.
CHAPTER V
HOUSE-FLIES OR TYPHOID-FLIES 57
The old attitude toward the house-fly, 57; its present standing, 58; reasons for the change, 58; Structure, 59; head and mouth-parts, 60; thorax and wings, 61; feet, 62; How they carry bacteria, 62; Life-history, 63; eggs, 63; ordinarily laid in manure, 63; other places, 63; habits of the larvae, 64; habits of the adults, 64; places they visit, 65; Flies and typhoid, 65; patients carrying the germs before and after they have had the disease, 65; how the flies get these on their body and distribute them, 66; results of some observations and experiments, 66; Flies and other diseases, 68; flies and cholera, 68; flies and tuberculosis, 69; possibility of their carrying other diseases, 70; Fighting flies, 71; screens not sufficient, 71; the larger problem, 71; the manure pile, 72; outdoor privies, 72; garbage can, 72; cooeperation necessary, 72; city ordinances, 73; an expert's opinion of the house-fly, 73; Other flies, 75; habits of several much the same but do not enter house as much, 75; the small house-fly, 75; stable-flies, 75; these may spread disease, 75.
CHAPTER VI
MOSQUITOES 76
Numbers, 76; interest and importance, 76; eggs, 77; always in water, 77; time of hatching, 77; Larvae, 78; live only in water, 78; head and mouth-parts of larvae, 78; what they feed on, 78; breathing apparatus, 79; growth of the larvae, 80; Pupae, 80; active but takes no food, 80; breathing tubes, 80; how the adult issues, 81; The Adult, 81; male and female, 81; how mosquitoes "sing" and how the song is heard, 82; the palpi, 82; The Mouth-parts, 83; needles for piercing, 83; How the mosquito bites, 84; secretion from the salivary gland, 84; why males cannot bite, 84; blood not necessary for either sex, 84; The Thorax, 85; the legs, 85; the wings, 85; the balancers, 85; the breathing pores, 86; The abdomen, 86; The digestive system, 86; The salivary glands, 87; their importance, 87; effects of a mosquito bite, 87; probable function of the saliva, 88; How mosquitoes breathe, 89; Blood, 90; in body cavity, 90; heart, 90; Classification, 91; Anopheles, 91; distinguishing characters, 92; eggs, 92; where the larvae are found, 93; Yellow fever mosquito, 94; its importance, 94; the adult, 95; habits, 95; habits of the larvae, 95; Other species, 96; some in fresh water, others in brackish water, 96; Natural enemies of mosquitoes, 97; how natural enemies of mosquitoes control their numbers, 98; mosquitoes in Hawaii, 98; Enemies of the adults, 99; Enemies of the larvae and pupae, 100; Fighting mosquitoes, 101; fighting the adult, 102; Fighting the larvae, 103; domestic or local species, 104; draining and treating with oil, 104; combatting salt-marsh species by draining, 105; by minnows or oil, 105.
CHAPTER VII
MOSQUITOES AND MALARIA 106
Early reference to malaria, 106; its general distribution, 106; theories in regard to its cause, 107; insects early suspected, 107; The parasite that causes malaria, 108; studies of the parasite, 108; Life-history in human host, 109; its effect on the host, 110; the search for the sexual generation, 111; The parasite in the mosquito, 112; review of whole life-history, 115; malaria transmitted only by mosquitoes, 115; Summary, 117; experimental proof, 118.
CHAPTER VIII
MOSQUITOES AND YELLOW FEVER 120
A disease of tropical or semi-tropical countries, 120; outbreaks in the United States, 120; parasite that causes the disease not known, 121; formerly regarded as a contagious disease, 122; The yellow fever commission, 123; Dr. Finlay's claim, 124; experiments made by the commission, 125; summary of results, 129; what it means, 130; results in Havana, 131; the fight in New Orleans, 132; In the Panama canal zone, 135; in Rio de Janeiro, 136; claims of the French commission, 138; habits of stegomyia, 139; breeding habits, 139; possible results of war against the mosquitoes, 139; Danger of this disease in the Pacific Islands, 140.
CHAPTER IX
FLEAS AND PLAGUE 142
Great scourges, 142; the "black death," 142; old conditions and new, 143; How plague was controlled in San Francisco, 143; Indian Plague commission, 144; Dr. Simond's claim, 145; The advisory committee and the new commission, 146; Results of Dr. Verjbitski's experiments, 147; Results of various investigations, 150; structure and habits of fleas, 151; feeding habits, 152; Common species of fleas, 153; Ground squirrels and plague, 155; squirrel fleas, 156; Remedies for fleas, 157; cats and dogs, 159.
CHAPTER X
OTHER DISEASES, MOSTLY TROPICAL, KNOWN OR THOUGHT TO BE TRANSMITTED BY INSECTS 161
Sleeping Sickness, 161; its occurrence in Africa, 161; caused by a Protozoan parasite, 162; the tsetse-fly, 163; Elephantiasis, 164; caused by parasitic worms, 164; their development, 165; how they are transferred to man, 165; effect on the patient, 166; Dengue, 168; other names, 168; probably transmitted by mosquitoes, 170; Mediterranean fever, 171; cause, 171; may be conveyed by mosquitoes, 171; Leprosy, 171; caused by a bacteria parasite, 171; possibilities of flies, mosquitoes and other insects transmitting the disease, 172; Kala-azar, 173; transmitted by the bedbug, 173; Oriental sore, 174; the parasite may be carried by insects, 174.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 175
Parasites and parasitism, 175; Protozoa, 176; Bacteria, 177; Insects and disease, 178; Mosquitoes—systematic and general, 179; Mosquito anatomy, 182; Mosquitoes—life-history and habits, 183; Mosquito fighting, 183; Mosquitoes and disease, 185; Malaria, 186; Yellow fever, 189; Dengue, 192; Filarial diseases and elephantiasis, 193; Leprosy, 193; Plague, 194; Fleas, 198; Typhoid fever, 199; House-flies—anatomy, life-history, habits, 200; House-flies and typhoid, 202; House-fly and various diseases, 203; Human myiasis, 207; Stomoxys and other flies, 208; tsetse-flies, 209; Trypanosomes and Trypanosomiasis, 210; Sleeping sickness, 211; Rocky mountain fever and ticks, 212; Ticks and various diseases, 213; Kala-azar and bedbugs, 216; Text or reference books, 216; Miscellaneous articles, 218.
ILLUSTRATIONS
AN ARTIFICIAL LAKE, NEARLY DRY AND PARTLY FILLED WITH RUBBISH, HAS BECOME A BREEDING-GROUND FOR DANGEROUS MOSQUITOES Frontispiece
PAGE
FIG. 1. A LAMPREY 2
FIG. 2. Sacculina 2
FIG. 3. Trichina spiralis 2
FIG. 4. AN EXTERNAL PARASITE, A BIRD-LOUSE (Lipeurus ferox) 3
FIG. 5. AN INTERNAL PARASITE, A TACHINA FLY (Blepharipeza adusta) 3
FIG. 6. WORK OF AN INTERNAL PARASITE, PUSS-MOTH LARVA PARASITIZED BY A SMALL ICHNEUMON FLY 3
FIG. 7. TYPHOID FEVER BACILLI 20
FIG. 8. Amoeba 20
FIG. 9. Euglina virdis 21
FIG. 10. Spirocheta duttoni 21
FIG. 11. Paramoecium 22
FIG. 12. Vorticella 22
FIG. 13. PATHOGENIC PROTOZOA; A GROUP OF INTESTINAL PARASITES 22
FIG. 14. CASTOR-BEAN TICK (Ixodes ricinus) 28
FIG. 15. TEXAS FEVER TICK 28
FIG. 16. TEXAS FEVER TICK (Margaropus annulatus) 29
FIG. 17. Amblyomma variegatum 29
FIG. 18. Ornithodoros moubata 36
FIG. 19. THE FOLLICLE MITE (Demodex folliculorum) 36
FIG. 20. ITCH-MITE (Sarcoptes scabiei) 37
FIG. 21. HARVEST-MITES OR "JIGGERS" 37
FIG. 22. HORSE-FLY (Tabanus punctifer) 44
FIG. 23. STABLE-FLY (Stomoxys calcitrans) 44
FIG. 24. A BLACK-FLY (Simulium sp.) 45
FIG. 25. SCREW-WORM FLY (Chrysomyia macellaria) 45
FIG. 26. BLOW-FLY (Calliphora vomitoria) 45
FIG. 27. BLUE-BOTTLE FLY (Lucilia sericata) 50
FIG. 28. FLESH-FLY (Sarcophaga sp.) 50
FIG. 29. "THE LITTLE HOUSE-FLY" (Homalomyia canicularis) 51
FIG. 30. HORSE BOT-FLY (Gastrophilus equi.) 51
FIG. 31. OXWARBLE FLY (Hypoderma lineata) 51
FIG. 32. SHEEP BOT-FLY (Gastrophilus nasalis) 51
FIG. 33. CHIGO OR JIGGER-FLEA, MALE (Dermatophilus penetrans) 54
FIG. 34. CHIGO, FEMALE DISTENDED WITH EGGS 54
FIG. 35. BEDBUG (Cimex lectularis) 55
FIG. 36. BODY-LOUSE (Pediculus vestimenti) 55
FIG. 37. ONE USE FOR THE HOUSE-FLY 57
FIG. 38. THE HOUSE-FLY (Musca domestica) 58
FIG. 39. HEAD OF HOUSE-FLY SHOWING EYES, ANTENNAE AND MOUTH-PARTS 60
FIG. 40. PROBOSCIS OF HOUSE-FLY, SIDE VIEW 60
FIG. 41. LOBES AT END OF PROBOSCIS OF HOUSE-FLY SHOWING CORRUGATED RIDGES 61
FIG. 42. WING OF HOUSE-FLY 61
FIG. 43. WING OF STABLE-FLY (Stomoxys calcitrans) 62
FIG. 44. WING OF HOUSE-FLY SHOWING PARTICLES OF DIRT ADHERING TO IT 62
FIG. 45. LAST THREE SEGMENTS OF LEG OF HOUSE-FLY 62
FIG. 46. FOOT OF HOUSE-FLY 63
FIG. 47. LARVA OF HOUSE-FLY 63
FIG. 48. BARN-YARD FILLED WITH MANURE 64
FIG. 49. DIRTY STALLS 65
FIG. 50. PUPA OF HOUSE-FLY 76
FIG. 51. HEAD OF STABLE-FLY 76
FIG. 52. MASS OF MOSQUITO EGGS (Theobaldia incidens) 76
FIG. 53. MOSQUITO EGGS AND LARVAE (T. incidens) 77
FIG. 54. MOSQUITO LARVA (T. incidens), DORSAL VIEW 77
FIG. 55. EGGS, LARVAE AND PUPAE OF MOSQUITOES (T. incidens) 78
FIG. 56. LARVA OF MOSQUITO (T. incidens) 78
FIG. 57. MOSQUITO LARVAE AND PUPAE (T. incidens) 79
FIG. 58. ANOPHELES LARVAE (A. maculipennis) 79
FIG. 59. MOSQUITO PUPAE (T. incidens) 80
FIG. 60. MOSQUITO PUPA (T. incidens) 80
FIG. 61. MOSQUITO LARVAE AND PUPAE (T. incidens) 80
FIG. 62. A FEMALE MOSQUITO (T. incidens) 81
FIG. 63. A MALE MOSQUITO (T. incidens) 81
FIG. 64. HEAD AND THORAX OF FEMALE MOSQUITO (Ochlerotatus lativittatus) 82
FIG. 65. HEAD AND THORAX OF MALE MOSQUITO (O. lativittatus) 82
FIG. 66. HEAD OF FEMALE MOSQUITO 83
FIG. 67. CROSS-SECTION OF PROBOSCIS OF FEMALE AND MALE MOSQUITO 83
FIG. 68. WING OF MOSQUITO (O. lativittatus) 86
FIG. 69. END OF MOSQUITO WING HIGHLY MAGNIFIED 86
FIG. 70. DIAGRAM TO SHOW THE ALIMENTARY CANAL AND SALIVARY GLANDS OF A MOSQUITO 87
FIG. 71. SALIVARY GLANDS OF MOSQUITOES 87
FIG. 72. HEADS OF CULICINAE MOSQUITOES 90
FIG. 73. HEADS OF ANOPHELINAE MOSQUITOES 90
FIG. 74. WING OF Anopheles maculipennis 90
FIG. 75. WING OF Theobaldia incidens 90
FIG. 76. A NON-MALARIAL MOSQUITO (T. Incidens), MALE, STANDING ON THE WALL 91
FIG. 77. FEMALE OF SAME 91
FIG. 78. A MALARIAL MOSQUITO (A. maculipennis), MALE, STANDING ON THE WALL 91
FIG. 79. FEMALE OF SAME 91
FIG. 80. EGG OF Anopheles, SIDE VIEW 92
FIG. 81. EGG OF ANOPHELES, DORSAL VIEW 92
FIG. 82. ANOPHELES LARVAE 92
FIG. 83. ANOPHELES LARVAE 93
FIG. 84. ANOPHELES LARVA, DORSAL VIEW 93
FIG. 85. ANOPHELES PUPAE RESTING AT SURFACE OF WATER 93
FIG. 86. SALT-MARSH MOSQUITO (Ochlerotatus lativittatus); MALE 98
FIG. 87. SALT-MARSH MOSQUITO (O. lativittatus); FEMALE 98
FIG. 88. TOP-MINNOW (Mollienisia latipinna) 99
FIG. 89. DRAGON-FLIES 99
FIG. 90. THE YOUNG (NYMPH) OF A DRAGON-FLY 100
FIG. 91. THE CAST SKIN (exuvae) OF A DRAGON-FLY NYMPH 100
FIG. 92. DIVING-BEETLES AND BACK-SWIMMERS 101
FIG. 93. KILLIFISH (Fundulus heteroliatus) 102
FIG. 94. STICKLEBACK (Apeltes quadracus) 102
FIG. 95. AN OLD WATERING-TROUGH, AN EXCELLENT BREEDING-PLACE FOR MOSQUITOES 103
FIG. 96. HORSE AND CATTLE TRACKS IN MUD FILLED WITH WATER 108
FIG. 97. A MALARIAL MOSQUITO (Anopheles maculipennis) MALE 108
FIG. 98. A MALARIAL MOSQUITO (A. maculipennis) FEMALE 109
FIG. 99. DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE THE LIFE-HISTORY OF THE MALARIAL PARASITE 110
FIG. 100. MALARIAL MOSQUITO (A. maculipennis) ON THE WALL 111
FIG. 101. MALARIAL MOSQUITO (A. maculipennis) STANDING ON A TABLE 111
FIG. 102. SALT-MARSH MOSQUITO (O. lativittatus) STANDING ON A TABLE 118
FIG. 103. ANOPHELES HANGING FROM THE CEILING 118
FIG. 104. YELLOW FEVER MOSQUITO (Stegomyia calopus) 122
FIG. 105. RAT-FLEA (Laemopsylla cheopis); MALE 152
FIG. 106. RAT-FLEA (L. cheopis); FEMALE 152
FIG. 107. HEAD OF RAT-FLEA SHOWING MOUTH-PARTS 153
FIG. 108. HUMAN-FLEA (Pulex irritans); MALE 153
FIG. 109. HUMAN-FLEA (P. irritans); FEMALE 156
FIG. 110. MOUSE-FLEA (Ctenopsyllus musculi); FEMALE 156
FIG. 111. TRYPANOSOMA GAMBIENSE 164
FIG. 112. TSETSE-FLY 164
INSECTS AND DISEASE
CHAPTER I
PARASITISM AND DISEASE
PARASITES
The dictionary says that a parasite is a living organism, either animal or plant, that lives in or on some other organism from which it derives its nourishment for a whole or part of its existence. This definition will serve as well as any, as it seems to include all the forms that might be classed as parasites. As a general thing, however, we are accustomed to think of a parasite as working more or less injury to its host, or perhaps we had better say that if it does not cause any irritation or ill effects its presence is not noted and we do not think of it at all.
As a matter of fact the number of parasitic organisms that are actually detrimental to the welfare of their hosts is comparatively small while the number of forms both large and small that lead parasitic lives in or on various hosts, usually doing no appreciable harm, often perhaps without the host being aware of their presence, is very great indeed.
Few of the higher animals live parasitic lives. The nearest approach to a true parasite among the vertebrates is the lamprey-eel (Fig. 1) which attaches itself to the body of a fish and sucks the blood or eats the flesh. Among the Crustaceans, the group that includes the lobsters and crabs, we find many examples of parasites, the most extraordinary of which is the curious crab known as Sacculina (Fig. 2). In its early stages this creature is free-swimming and looks not unlike other young crabs. But it soon attaches itself to another crab and begins to live at the expense of its host. Then it commences to undergo remarkable changes and finally becomes a mere sac-like organ with a number of long slender root-like processes penetrating and taking nourishment from the body of the unfortunate crab-host.
The worms furnish many well-known examples of parasites, whole groups of them being especially adapted to parasitic life. The tapeworms, common in many animals and often occurring in man, the roundworms of which the trichina (Fig. 3) that causes "measly" pork is a representative, are familiar examples. These and a host of others all show a very high degree of specialization fitting them for their peculiar lives in their hosts.
From among the insects may be selected interesting examples of almost all kinds and degrees of parasitism, temporary, permanent, external, internal (Figs. 4, 5, 6). Among them is found, too, that curious condition known as hyperparasitism where one animal, itself a parasite, is preyed upon by a still smaller parasite.
"The larger fleas have smaller fleas Upon their backs to bite um, These little fleas still smaller fleas And so ad infinitum."
Coming now to the minute, microscopic, one-celled animals, the Protozoa, we find entire groups of them that are living parasitic lives, depending wholly on one or more hosts for their existence. Many of these have a very remarkable life-history, living part of the time in one host, part in another. The malarial parasite and others that cause some of the diseases of man and domestic animals are among the most important of these.
PARASITISM
Among all these parasites, from the highest to the lowest the process that has fitted them for a parasitic life has been one of degeneration. While they may be specialized to an extreme degree in one direction they are usually found to have some of the parts or organs, which in closely related forms are well developed, atrophied or entirely wanting. As a rule this is a distinct advantage rather than a disadvantage to the parasite, for those parts or organs that are lost would be useless or even in the way in its special mode of life.
Then, too, the parasite often gives up all its independence and becomes wholly dependent on its host or hosts not only for its food but for its dissemination from one animal to another, in order that the species may not perish with the host. But in return for all this it has gained a life of ease, free from most of the dangers that beset the more independent animals, and is thus able to devote its whole time and energy to development and the propagation of the species.
We are accustomed to group the parasites that we know into two classes, as harmful or injurious and as harmless, the latter including all those kinds that do not ordinarily affect our well-being in any way. But such a classification is not always satisfactory or safe, for certain organisms that to-day or under present conditions are not harmful may, on account of a great increase in numbers or change of conditions, become of prime importance to-morrow. An animal that is well and strong may harbor large numbers of parasites which are living at the expense of some of the host's food or energy or comfort, yet the loss is so small that it is not noticed and the intruders, if they are thought of at all, are classed as harmless. Or we may at times even look upon them as beneficial in one way or another. "A reasonable amount of fleas is good for a dog. They keep him from brooding on being a dog."
But should these parasites for some reason or other increase rapidly they might work great harm to the host. Even David Harum would limit the number of fleas on a dog. Or the animal might become weakened from some cause so that the drain on its resources made by the parasites, even though they did not increase in numbers, would materially affect it.
Perhaps the most serious way in which parasites that are usually harmless may become of great importance is illustrated by their introduction into new regions or, as is more often the case, by the introduction of new hosts into the region where the parasites are found. Under normal conditions the animals of a given region are usually immune to the parasites of the same region. That is, they actually repel them and do not suffer them to exist in or on their bodies, or they are tolerant toward them. In the latter case the parasites live at the expense of the host, but the host has become used to their being there, adapted to them, and the injury that they do, if any, is negligible.
But when a new animal comes into the region from some other locality the parasites may be extremely dangerous to it. There are many striking examples of this. Most of the people living in what is known as the yellow fever belt are immune to the fever. They will not develop it even under conditions that would surely mean infection for a person from outside this zone. Certain of our common diseases which we regard as of little consequence become very serious matters when introduced among a people that has never known them before. The cattle of the southern states are immune to the Texas fever, but let northern cattle be sent south or let the ticks which transmit the disease be taken north where they can get on cattle there, and the results are disastrous.
Another striking example and one that is attracting world-wide attention just now is the trypanosome that is causing such devastation among the inhabitants of central Africa. With the advent of white men into this region and the consequent migration of the natives along the trade routes this parasite, which is the cause of sleeping sickness, is being introduced into new regions and thousands upon thousands of people are dying as a result of its ravages.
DISEASES CAUSED BY PARASITES
Some two hundred years ago, after it became known that minute animal parasites were associated with certain diseases and were the cause of them, it rapidly came to be believed that all our ills were in some way caused by such parasites, known or unknown. Further study and investigation failed to reveal the intruders in many instances and so it began to be doubted whether after all they were responsible for much that had been laid at their doors. Then after it was discovered that minute plant parasites, bacteria, were responsible for many diseases they in turn began to be accused of being the cause of most of the ills that the flesh is heir to.
In later years we have come to adopt what seems to be a more reasonable view, for we can see and definitely prove that neither of these extreme views was correct but that there was much truth in each of them. To-day we recognize that certain diseases, such as typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis and many others, are caused by the presence of bacteria in the body, and it is just as definitely known that such maladies as malaria and sleeping sickness are caused by animal parasites.
Then there is a long list of other epidemic diseases, such as smallpox, measles and scarlet fever, the exact cause of which has not been determined. Many of these are believed to be due to micro-organisms of some kind, and if so they will almost certainly sooner or later be found. Curiously enough most of the diseases in this last class and many of those in the first are contagious, while all that are caused by animal parasites are, as far as is known, infectious but not contagious.
INFECTIOUS AND CONTAGIOUS DISEASES
It is important that we keep in mind this distinction. By contagious diseases are meant those that are transmitted by contact with the diseased person either directly, by touch, or indirectly by the use of the same articles, by the breath or effluvial emanations from the body or other sources. Small-pox, measles, influenza, etc., are examples of this group. By infectious diseases are meant those which are disseminated indirectly, that is, in a roundabout way by means of water or food or other substances taken into or introduced into the body in some way. Typhoid, malaria, and yellow fever, cholera and others are examples of this class. Thus it is evident that all of the contagious diseases may be infectious, but many of the infectious diseases are not as a rule contagious, although some of them may become so under favorable conditions.
Just one example will show the importance of knowing whether a disease is contagious or infectious. Until a few years ago it was believed that yellow fever was highly contagious and every precaution was taken to keep the disease from spreading by keeping the infected region in strict quarantine. This often meant much hardship and suffering and always a great financial loss. We now know that it is infectious only and not contagious, and that all this quarantine was unnecessary. The whole fight in controlling an outbreak of yellow fever or in preventing such an outbreak is now directed against the mosquito, the sole agent by which the disease can be transmitted from one person to another.
EFFECT OF THE PARASITE ON THE HOST
We have seen how a few parasites in or on an animal do not as a rule produce any appreciable ill effects. This is of course a most fortunate thing for us, for the parasitic germs are everywhere.
There is perhaps "more truth than poetry" in the following newspaper jingle:
"Sing a song of microbes, Dainty little things, Eyes and ears and horns and tails, Claws and fangs and stings. Microbes in the carpet, Microbes in the wall, Microbes in the vestibule, Microbes in the hall. Microbes on my money, Microbes in my hair, Microbes on my meat and bread, Microbes everywhere. Microbes in the butter, Microbes in the cheese, Microbes on the knives and forks, Microbes in the breeze. Friends are little microbes, Enemies are big, Life among the microbes is— Nothing 'infra dig.' Fussy little microbes, Millions at a birth, Make our flesh and blood and bones, Keep us on the earth."
While of course most of these microbes are to be regarded as absolutely harmless and some as very useful, many have the power to do much injury if the proper conditions for their rapid development should at any time exist. While the size of the parasite is always a factor in the damage that it may do to the host the factor of numbers is perhaps of still greater importance because of the power of very rapid multiplication possessed by so many of the smaller forms.
Certain minute parasites in the blood may cause little or no inconvenience, but should they begin to multiply too rapidly some of the capillaries may be filled up and trouble thus result. Or take some of the larger forms. A few intestinal worms may cause no appreciable effect on the host, but as soon as their numbers increase serious conditions may come about simply by the presence of the great masses in the host even if they were not robbing it of its nourishment. Many instances are known where such worms have formed masses that completely clogged up the alimentary canal. Such injuries as these may be regarded as mechanical injuries. Some parasites injure the host only when they are laying their eggs or reproducing the young. These may clog up passages or some of them may be carried to some more sensitive part of the body where the damage is done. The guinea-worm of southwestern Asia and of Africa lives in the body of its host for nearly a year sometimes attaining a great length and migrating through the connective tissue to different parts of the body causing no particular inconvenience until it is ready to lay its eggs when it comes to the surface and then great suffering may result. The African eye-worm is another example of a parasite causing mechanical injury only at certain times. It works in the tissues of the body sometimes for a long while, doing no harm unless it finds its way to the connective tissue of the eyeball.
It is known that many of the germs which cause diseases cannot get into the body unless the protecting membranes have first been injured in some way. Thus the germs that cause plague and lockjaw find their way into the system principally through abrasions of the skin. Many physicians have come to believe that the typhoid fever germ cannot get into the body from the intestine where it is taken with our food or drink unless the walls of the intestine have been injured in some way. It is well known that of the many parasites that inhabit the alimentary canal some rasp the surface and others bore through into the body cavity. This in itself may not be a serious thing, but if the mechanical injury thus caused opens the way for malignant germs, baneful results may follow. Even that popular disease appendicitis is believed to be due sometimes to the injury caused by the work of parasites in the appendix.
Parasites may cause morphological or structural changes in the tissues of their hosts. The stimulation caused by their presence may result in swellings or excresences or other abnormal growths. Interesting examples of this are to be found in the way in which pearls are formed in various mollusks. In the pearl oysters of Ceylon occur some of the best pearls. If these are carefully sectioned there may usually be found at the center the remains of certain cestode larvae whose presence in the oyster caused it to deposit the nacreous layers that make up the pearl. Other parasites cause similar growths in various shellfish. The great enlargements of the arms or legs or other parts of the body seen in patients affected with elephantiasis is an abnormal growth due to the presence of the parasitic filarae in some of the lymph-glands where they have come to rest.
Finally, the parasite may exert a direct physiological effect on the host. This is evident when the parasite demands and takes a portion of the nourishment that would otherwise go to the building up of the host. Sometimes this is of little importance, but at other times it may be a matter of life or death to the infected animal. The physiological effect produced may be due to the toxins or poisonous matters that are given off by the parasite while it is living in the host's body. Thus it is believed that the malarial patients usually suffer less from the actual loss of red blood-corpuscles that are destroyed by the parasite than they do from the effects of the poisonous excretions that are poured into the circulation when the thousands of corpuscles break to release the parasites.
One other point in regard to the relation of the parasite to its host and this part of the subject may be dismissed. From our standpoint we look upon the presence of parasites in the body as an abnormal condition. From a biological standpoint their presence there is perfectly normal; it is a necessary part of their life. We think that they have no business there, but from the viewpoint of the parasites their whole business is to be just there. If they are not, they perish. And when we take a dose of quinine or other drug we are killing or driving from their homes millions of these little creatures who have taken up their abode with us for the time being. But they interfere with our health and comfort, so they must go.
CHAPTER II
BACTERIA AND PROTOZOA
BACTERIA
On the border line between the plant and the animal worlds are many forms which possess some of the characteristics of both. Indeed when an attempt is made to separate all known organisms into two groups one is immediately confronted with difficulties. In looking over the text-books of Botany we will find that certain low forms are discussed there as belonging with the plants, and on turning to the manuals of Zooelogy we will find that the same organisms are placed among the lowest forms of animals. The question is of course of little actual importance from certain points of view. It serves, however, to show the close relation of all forms of life, and from a medical standpoint it may be of very great importance owing to the difference in the life-habits, methods of reproduction and methods of transmission of many of the forms that cause disease. We have already seen that none of the diseases that are caused by animal parasites is contagious, while many of those caused by bacteria are both contagious and infectious.
Just over on the plant side of this indefinite border line are the minute organisms known as bacteria. Their numbers are infinite and they are found everywhere. The majority of them are beneficial to mankind in one way or another, but some of them cause certain of the diseases that we will have to discuss later so attention may be called here to a few of the important facts in regard to their organization and life-history in order that we may better understand how they may be so easily transferred from one host to another.
Although these bacilli are so extremely minute (Fig. 7), some of them so small that they cannot be seen with the most powerful microscopes, they differ in size, shape, methods of division and spore-formation. Each species makes a characteristic growth on gelatin, agar or other media upon which it may be cultivated. In this way as well as by the inoculation of animals the presence of the ultramicroscopic kinds may be demonstrated.
The method of reproduction is very simple. They increase to a certain point in size, then divide. This growth and division takes place very rapidly. Twenty to thirty minutes is sufficient time in some cases for a just-divided cell to attain full size and divide again. Thus in a few days time the number of bacteria resulting from a single individual would be inconceivable if they should all develop.
Fortunately for us, however, they do not all multiply so rapidly as this and besides there are natural checks, not the least of which are the substances given off by the bacteria themselves in their growth and development. Such excretions often serve to inhibit further multiplication. Sometimes, though not often, they form spores which not only provide for a more rapid multiplication, but enable the organism to live under conditions that would otherwise prove fatal to it.
Bacteria may be conveniently grouped under two heads: those that live upon dead organic matter, known as the saprophytic forms, and those that are found in living plants or animals, the true parasites. Such a grouping is not always entirely satisfactory, for many of the kinds that live saprophytically under normal conditions may become parasitic if opportunity offers, and also many of those that are usually regarded as parasitic may be grown in cultures of agar or other media, under which conditions they may be regarded as living saprophytically.
It is this power of easily adapting themselves to different conditions that makes many of the kinds dangerous. The bacillus which causes tetanus or lockjaw will illustrate this. It is a rather common bacillus in soil in many localities. As long as it remains there it is of no special importance, but if it is introduced into the body through a scratch or any other wound it becomes a very serious matter.
We may say, then, that the effect the bacillus has on the host depends largely on the host. Not only does it depend on what the host is, but the particular condition of the host at the time of infection is of importance. Children are subject to many diseases that adults seldom have. Hunger, thirst, fatigue, exposure and other factors may make a person susceptible to the actions of certain bacteria that would be harmless under other conditions.
The minute size and great numbers of the bacteria make their dissemination a comparatively simple matter. They may be carried in the air as minute particles of dust; they may be carried in water or milk; they may be carried on the clothing or on the person from one host to another, or they may be disseminated in scores of other ways. In other chapters, particularly the one dealing with the house-fly and typhoid, we shall see how it is that insects are often important factors in spreading some of the most dreaded of the bacterial diseases.
THE PROTOZOA
The Protozoa, or one-celled animals, belonged to an unknown world before the invention of the microscope. The first of these instruments enabled the early observers to see some of the larger and more conspicuous members of the group and each improvement of the microscope has enabled us to see more and more of them and to study in detail not only the structure but to follow the life-history of many of them.
The Amoeba. With some, as the common amoeba (Fig. 8), a minute little form that is to be found in the slime at the bottom of almost any body of water, the life-history is extremely simple. The organism itself consists of a minute particle of protoplasm, a single cell with no definite shape or body-wall and no specialized organs or apparatus for carrying on the life-functions. It lives in the slime or ooze in fresh or salt water, takes its food by simply flowing over the particle that is to be ingested, grows to a certain limit of size, then divides into two more or less equal parts, each part becoming a new animal that goes on with its development as did the parent form. This process of growth and division may go on for many generations, but cannot continue indefinitely unless there is a conjugation of two separate individuals. This process of conjugation is just the opposite to that of division. Two amoeba flow together and become one. It seems to rejuvenate the organism so that it is able to go on with its division and thus fulfil its life-mission which is the same for these lowly animals as with the higher, that of perpetuating the species.
Classes of Protozoa. The group or Phylum Protozoa is divided into four smaller groups or classes. The amoeba belongs to the lowest of these, the Rhizopoda. Rhizopoda means "root-footed," and the name is applied to these animals because most of them move about by means of root-like processes known as pseudopodia or "false feet." This is by far the largest class and contains thousands of forms, mostly living in salt water but there are many fresh-water species. They are non-parasitic, but some of them by their presence in the body may cause such diseases as dysentery, etc.
The next class which may be known as the whip-bearers (Mastigophora) includes those Protozoa that move by fine undulating processes called flagella. One of the common representatives of this class is the little green Euglena (Fig. 9), whose presence in standing ponds and puddles often imparts a greenish color to the water. Then in the salt water near the surface there are often myriads of minute Noctiluca whose wonderfully phosphorescent little bodies glow like coals of fire when the water is disturbed at night. Although this class contains fewer forms than the preceding some of these have within recent years been found to be of great importance because they live as parasites on man and other animals. The trypanosome whose presence in the blood and tissues of the patient causes that dreadful disease which ends in sleeping sickness belongs here as well as do several other similar kinds that produce serious troubles for various mammals and birds. The Spirochaeta, about which there has been so much recent discussion, also belong here. These are simple spiral-like forms (Fig. 10), that are sometimes classed with the simple plants, bacteria, but Nuttall and others have shown very definitely that they should be classed with the simplest animals, the Protozoans. These are the cause of relapsing fevers in man and of several diseases of domestic animals. It is believed by certain eminent zooelogists that when the germ that causes yellow fever is discovered it will be found to belong to this group.
The members of the class Infusoria, so called because they were early found to be abundant in various infusions, are characterized by numerous fine cilia or hair-like organs by means of which the organism moves about and procures its food. The well-known "slipper animalcule" (Paramoecium) (Fig. 11), and the "bell-animalcule" (Vorticella) (Fig. 12) are two common representatives. The Paramoecia were the animals mostly used by Jennings in his wonderfully interesting experiments on the behavior of these lowly forms of life. He showed that they always reacted in a certain definite way in response to particular stimuli, and he was led to believe that he could see "what must be considered the beginnings of intelligence and of many other qualities found in the higher animals." A species of Vorticella was probably the first Protozoan that was ever observed. An old Dutch microscopist, Anton von Leeuwenhoek, in 1675, while studying with lenses of his own manufacture, discovered and described forms which undoubtedly belong to this genus. Few if any of the Infusoria are pathogenic, although some are said to be associated with certain intestinal diseases both in man and the lower animals (Fig. 13).
The last class, the Sporozoa, or the spore-forming animals, while small in the number of known species, only about three hundred kinds being known, is extremely important. A number of diseases in man and other animals are due to the presence of these Sporozoans, for they are all parasitic. Few if any animals are exempt from their attacks. They even attack other minute Protozoa. One hundred and fifty-seven species have been recorded as attacking insects, one hundred species attack birds, fifty-two reptiles, eighty crustaceans, twenty-two fish, and so through the list. Ten have been recorded as attacking man. In some instances the parasite is always present in the host and some hosts may harbor several different species of Sporozoa.
Very little work had been done on this group of parasites prior to 1900. Since that time most of the species that we now know have been discovered, and within the last few years the life-histories of many of these have been worked out quite completely. No other group of animals is being studied more to-day by both the physicians and biologists.
The Sporozoa vary greatly in appearance, organization and life-history. They are so very plastic that they can adapt themselves readily to their various hosts, hence we have a great variety of forms. But they all agree in certain characters; all take their food and oxygen and carry on excretory processes by osmosis, i.e., through the body-wall; all are capable of some kind of locomotion, some have one or more flagella, others move by a pseudopod movement. Some are capable of moving from cell to cell in the body as do the white blood-corpuscles. They all agree in the production of spores—hence the name.
At certain stages in their development the nucleus within the body of the organism divides again and again until there are a great many daughter nuclei, each accompanied by a small mass of protoplasm, often inclosed in a little sac or cyst of its own. This is the process of spore-formation and we see that from a single individual we may have by division, not two animals as in the amoeba, but a score or more of them. The little cysts or capsules that inclose them enable them to resist without injury many vicissitudes that would otherwise destroy them. They may dry up or freeze or lie for a long time in the ground or water until the time comes when they are introduced into another host.
The class Sporozoa is divided into five small groups or orders. Nearly all of these contain forms that are of more or less importance, but the ones that live in the blood-cells (Haemosporidiida) are of the most interest to us because the parasites that cause the malarial fevers and various other diseases belong here. These are dependent on two hosts for their existence, the sexual generation usually occuring in an insect or other invertebrate and the asexual generation in some vertebrate.
CHAPTER III
TICKS AND MITES
The other group or Phylum of animals with which we will be particularly concerned is known as the Arthropoda, which means "jointed-feet" and includes the crayfish, crabs, spiders, mites, ticks and insects. Of these only the last three are of interest to us now. It is customary to speak of spiders, mites and ticks as insects, but as they have four pairs of legs, instead of three pairs, in the adult stage, and as their bodies are not divided into three distinct regions as in the insects, they are placed in a different class.
GENERAL CHARACTERS OF TICKS
The ticks are all comparatively large, that is, they are all large enough to be seen with the unaided eye even in their younger stages and some grow to be half an inch long. When filled with blood the tough leathery skin becomes much distended often making the creature look more like a large seed than anything else (Fig. 14). This resemblance is responsible for some of the popular names, such as "castor-bean tick," etc.
The legs of most species are comparatively short, and the head is small so that they are often hardly noticeable when the body is distended. The sucking beak which is thrust into the host when the tick is feeding is furnished with many strong recurved teeth which hold on so firmly that when one attempts to pull the tick away the head is often torn from the body and left in the skin. Unless care is taken to remove this, serious sores often result.
Ticks are wholly parasitic in their habits. Some of them live on their host practically all their lives, dropping to the ground to deposit their eggs when fully mature. Others leave their host twice to molt in or on the ground. The female lays her eggs, 1,000 to 10,000 of them, on the ground or just beneath the surface. The young "seed-ticks" that hatch from these in a few days soon crawl up on some near-by blade of grass or on a bush or shrub and wait quietly and patiently until some animal comes along. If the animal comes close enough they leave the grass or other support and cling to their new-found host and are soon taking their first meal. Of course thousands of them are disappointed and starve before their host appears, but as they are able to live for a remarkably long time without taking food their patience is often rewarded and the long fast ended.
Those species which drop to the ground to molt must again climb to some favorable point and wait for another host on which they may feed for a while. Then they drop to the ground for a second molt and if they are successful in gaining a new host for the third time they feed and develop until fully mature and the female is ready to lay her eggs. The Texas fever tick, and some others, as we shall see, do not drop to the ground to molt but once having gained a host remain on it until ready to deposit their eggs.
The young ticks have only six legs (Fig. 15) but after the first molt they all have eight.
TICKS AND DISEASE
Texas Fever. Ever since stockmen began driving southern cattle into states further north it has been noted that the roads over which they were driven became a source of great danger to northern cattle. Often 80% to 90% of the native cattle died after a herd of southern cattle passed through their region and the losses became so great that both state and national laws were passed prohibiting the driving or shipping of southern cattle into northern states.
But for years the cause of this fever, which came to be known as the Texas fever, was not known. The southern cattle themselves seemed healthy enough and it was difficult to understand how they could give the disease to the others. It was early noticed, too, that it was not necessary for the northern cattle to come in direct contact with the others in order to contract the disease. Indeed the disease was not contracted in this way at all. All that was necessary for them was to pass along the same roads or feed in the same pastures or ranges. Still more puzzling was the fact that these places did not seem to become a source of danger until some weeks after the southern cattle had passed over them and then they might remain dangerous for months.
In 1886 Dr. Theobald Smith of the Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, found that the fever was caused by the presence in the infected cattle of a minute Sporozoan parasite (Piroplasma bigeminum). Further investigations and experiments proved conclusively that this parasite was transmitted from the infected to the well animal only by the common cattle tick now known as the Texas fever tick (Fig. 16).
The infection is not direct, that is, the tick does not feed on one host then pass to another carrying the disease germs with it. Unlike many other ticks the Texas fever tick does not leave its host until it is fully developed. When the female is full grown and gorged she drops to the ground and lays from 2,000 to 4,000 eggs which soon hatch into the minute "seed-ticks" which make their way to the nearest blade of grass or weed or shrub and patiently wait for the cattle to come along.
If the mother tick had been feeding on an animal that was infected with the Texas fever parasite, her body was filled with the minute organisms of which some found their way into the eggs so that the young ticks hatching from them were already infected and ready to carry the infection to the first animal they fed upon.
It took many years of hard patient work to learn all this, but the knowledge thus obtained cleared up much of the mystery in connection with the occurrence of the fever in the north and, as we shall see, suggested the possibility of other diseases being communicated in the same way.
It was found that the southern cattle in the region where the ticks occur normally, usually have a mild attack of the disease when they are young and although they may be infected with the parasite all the rest of their lives it does not affect them seriously. These cattle are almost always infected with ticks, and when taken north where the ticks do not occur naturally and where the cattle are therefore non-immune, some of the mature ticks drop to the ground and lay their eggs which in a few weeks hatch out and are ready to infect any animal that passes by. The northern cattle not being used to the disease soon sicken and die.
It is estimated that the annual loss due to this disease and the ravages of the tick in the United States is over $100,000,000, so of course most determined efforts are being made to stamp it out. Formerly various devices for dipping the tick-infested cattle into some solution that would kill the ticks were resorted to, but it was always expensive and never very satisfactory. The immunizing of the cattle by inoculating them when they were young with infected blood has been practised. Very recent investigations have shown that it is possible and practicable to rid pastures of ticks by a system of feed-lots and pasture rotation. The aim is to have as many of the ticks as possible drop to the ground on land where they may be destroyed and to so regulate the use of the pasture that the ticks in all of them may eventually be left to starve.
Several similar diseases of cattle, many of them probably identical with Texas fever, occur in other parts of the world where the losses are sometimes appalling. Horses, sheep, dogs, and other animals are also affected with diseases caused by the same group of Protozoan parasites. Most of them have been shown to be transmitted by various species of ticks (Fig. 17) so that from an economical standpoint these little pests are becoming of prime importance. Not only do they transmit the disease germs that infect domestic animals but they are known to be responsible for at least two diseases of men, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and the relapsing fevers.
Spotted Fever. The first of these is a disease that for some years has been puzzling the physicians in Idaho and Montana and other mountainous states. A few years ago certain observers recorded finding Protozoan parasites in the blood of those suffering from the disease, and although more recent investigations have failed to confirm these particular observations it is now quite generally believed that the disease is caused by some such parasite and that the organism is transferred from one host to another by certain species of ticks that live on wild mammals of the region where the disease exists. Dr. H.T. Ricketts, who has made a special study of the disease, has shown:
"1. That the period of activity of the disease is limited to the season during which the adult female and male ticks attack man.
"2. That in practically all cases of this disease it can be shown that the patient has been bitten by a tick.
"3. That the period between the tick bite and the onset of the disease in the many animals he has experimented with corresponds very closely to this period as observed in man.
"4. That infected ticks are to be found in the locality where the disease occurs.
"5. That the virus of spotted fever is very intimately associated with the tissues of the tick's body as is shown by the fact that the female passes the infection on to her young through her eggs, and further, by the observation that in either of the two earlier stages of the life cycle the disease may be contracted by biting a sick animal and communicated to other animals after molting or even after passing through an intermediate stage."
Professor R.A. Cooley of Montana, from whose report the above quotation is taken, has also made studies of the habits of the tick and believes there can be no doubt that it is the disseminator of the disease.
Relapsing Fever. The relapsing fever is an infectious disease or possibly a group of closely related infectious diseases occurring in various parts of the world. Occasionally it is introduced into America, but it does not seem to spread here. It has been shown that the disease is communicated from one person to another by means of blood-sucking insects. In Central Africa where the disease is very prevalent a certain common tick (Ornithodoros moubata) (Fig. 18) is known to transmit the disease. This tick lives in the resting places and around the huts of the natives and has habits very similar to the bedbug of other climes, feeding at night and hiding during the day. It attacks both man and beast and is one of the most dreaded of all the African pests.
Nathan Bank, our foremost authority on ticks, in summing up the evidence against them says:
"It is therefore evident that all ticks are potentially dangerous. Any tick now commonly infesting some wild animal, may, as its natural host becomes more uncommon, attach itself to some domestic animal. Since most of the hosts of ticks have some blood-parasites, the ticks by changing the host may transplant the blood-parasites into the new host producing, under suitable conditions, some disease. Numerous investigators throughout the world are studying this phase of tick-life, and many discoveries will doubtless signalize the coming years."
MITES
The mites are closely related to the ticks, and although none of them has yet been shown to be responsible for the spread of any disease their habits are such that it would be entirely possible for some to transmit certain diseases from one host to another, from animal to animal, from animal to man, or from man to man. A number of these mites produce certain serious diseases among various domestic animals and a few are responsible for certain diseases of men.
Face-mites. Living in the sweat-glands at the roots of hairs and in diseased follicles in the skin of man and some domestic animals are curious little parasites that look as much like worms as mites (Fig. 19). Such diseased follicles become filled with fatty matter, the upper end becomes hard and black and in man are known as blackheads. If one of these blackheads is forced out and the fatty substance dissolved with ether the mites may be found in all stages of development. The young have six legs, the adult eight. The body is elongated and transversely wrinkled. In man they are usually found about the nose and chin and neck where they do no particular harm except to mar the appearance of the host and to indicate that his skin has not had the care it should have. Very recently certain investigators have found that the leprae bacilli are often closely associated with these face mites and believe that they may possibly aid in the dissemination of leprosy. It is also thought that they may sometimes be the cause of cancer, but as yet these theories have not been proven by any conclusive experiment.
In dogs and cats these same or very similar parasites cause great suffering. In bad cases the hair falls out and the skin becomes scabby. Horses, cattle and sheep are also attacked. The disease caused by these mites on domestic animals is not usually considered curable except in its very early stages when salves or ointments may help some.
Itch-mites. "As slow as the seven-years' itch" is an expression, the meaning of which many could appreciate from personal experience, for it certainly seemed to take no end of time to get rid of the itch once it was contracted. Just why seven years should have been set for the limit of the disease is not clear, for if the little roundish mites that cause the disease live for seven years on a host they are not going to move out voluntarily even if their seven-year lease has expired.
The minute whitish mites (Fig. 20) that cause this disgusting disease are barely visible to the naked eye. They are usually very sluggish but become more active when warmed. They live in burrows just beneath the outer layer of skin, sometimes extending deeper and causing most intense itching. As the female burrows, she lays her eggs from which come the young mites that are to spread the infection. Various sulphur ointments and washes are used as remedies. Cleanliness will prevent infection.
Closely related to the itch-mite of man (Sarcoptes scabiei) are several kinds attacking domestic animals, causing mange, scab, etc. The variety infesting horses burrows in the skin and produces sores and scabs, and is a source of very great annoyance. These mites may also migrate to man. Tobacco water and sulphur ointments are used as remedies.
Horses and cattle are also infested by other mites (Psoroptes communis) which cause the common mange. These do not burrow into the skin but live outside in colonies, feeding on the skin and causing crusts or scabs. The inflammation causes the animal to scratch and rub constantly and often causes the loss of much of the hair.
Harvest-mites. A score or more of different varieties of mites cause many other diseases of domestic animals, such as the scab of sheep and hogs and chickens, various other manges of the horses and cattle and dogs, etc. But we need to call attention to just one more example, that of the harvest-mites or jiggers (Fig. 21). Professor Otto Lugger, from whose report on the Parasites of Man and Domestic Animals most of these notes in regard to the mites are taken, thus feelingly refers to this pest.
"About the very worst pests of man and domesticated animals are the Harvest-bugs, Red-bugs or Jiggers.... Men and animals passing through low herbage that harbors them are attacked by these pests, which, whenever they succeed in finding a host, burrow in and under the skin, causing intolerable itching and sores, the latter caused by the feverish activity of the finger-nails of the host, if that should be a man, whose energy in scratching, apparently, cannot be controlled and who is bound forcibly to remove the intruders. The writer has been there! Those who have ever passed through meadows infested with red-bugs will remember the occasion."
Horses, cattle, dogs and cats and other animals suffer also. Again sulphur ointments are the best remedies.
"The normal food of these mites must, apparently, consist of the juices of plants, and the love of blood proves ruinous to those individuals which get a chance to indulge it. For, unlike the true chigoe, the female of which deposits eggs in the wound she makes, these harvest-mites have no object of the kind, and when not killed at the hands of those they torment they soon die victims to their sanguinary appetite."
CHAPTER IV
HOW INSECTS CAUSE OR CARRY DISEASE
It has been estimated that there are about four thousand species or kinds of Protozoans, about twenty-five thousand species of Mollusks, about ten thousand species of birds, about three thousand five hundred species of mammals, and from two hundred thousand to one million species of insects, or from two to five times as many kinds of insects as all other animals combined.
Not only do the insects preponderate in number of species, but the number of individuals belonging to many of the species is absolutely beyond our comprehension. Try to count the number of little green aphis on a single infested rose-bush, or on a cabbage plant; guess at the number of mosquitoes issuing each day from a good breeding-pond; estimate the number of scale insects on a single square inch of a tree badly infested with San Jose scale; then try to think how many more bushes or trees or ponds may be breeding their millions just as these and you will only begin to comprehend the meaning of this statement.
As long as these myriads of insects keep in what we are pleased to call their proper place we care not for their numbers and think little of them except as some student points out some wonderful thing about their structure, life-history or adaptations. But since the dawn of history we find accounts to show that insects have not always kept to their proper sphere but have insisted at various times and in various ways in interfering with man's plans and wishes, and on account of their excessive numbers the results have often been most disastrous.
Insects cause an annual loss to the people of the United States of over $1,000,000,000. Grain fields are devastated; orchards and gardens are destroyed or seriously affected; forests are made waste places and in scores of other ways these little pests which do not keep in their proper places are exacting this tremendous tax from our people.
These things have been known and recognized for centuries, and scores of volumes have been written about the insects and their ways and of methods of combating them.
But it is only in recent years that we have begun to realize the really important part that insects play in relation to the health of the people with whom they are associated. Dr. Howard estimates that the annual death rate in the United States from malaria is about twelve thousand, entailing an annual monetary loss of about $100,000,000, to say nothing of the suffering and misery endured by the afflicted. All this on account of two or three species of insects belonging to the mosquito genus Anopheles.
Yellow fever, while not so widespread, is more fatal and therefore more terrorizing. Its presence and spread are due entirely to a single species of mosquito. Flies, fleas, bedbugs, and many other insects have been shown to be intimately connected with the spread of several other most dreaded diseases, so it is no wonder that physicians, entomologists and biologists are studying with utmost zeal many of these forms that bear such a close relation not only to our welfare and comfort but to our lives as well.
It would be out of place to try to give here even a brief outline of the classification of insects, such as may be found in almost any of the many books devoted to their study.
The most generally accepted classification divides the insects into nineteen orders; as the Coleoptera, containing the beetles; the Lepidoptera, containing the butterflies and moths; the Hymenoptera containing the bees, ants and wasps, etc. Four or five of these orders will be of more or less interest to us.
The order Diptera, or two-winged flies, is the most important because to this belong the mosquitoes which transmit malaria and yellow fever, and the house-fly that has come into prominence since it has been found to be such an important factor in the distribution of typhoid and other diseases.
FLIES
The order Diptera is divided into sixty or more families, many of which contain species of considerable economic importance. For our present consideration the flies may be divided into two groups or sections: those with their mouth-parts fitted for piercing such as the mosquito and horse-fly, and those with sucking mouth-parts such as the house-fly, blow-fly and others.
Some of the species belonging to the first group are among the most troublesome pests not only of man but of our domestic animals as well. Next to the mosquitoes the horse-flies (Fig. 22) are perhaps the best known of these. There are several species known under various names, such as gad-fly, breeze-fly, etc. They are very serious pests of horses and cattle, sometimes also attacking man. Their strong, sharp, piercing stylets enable them to pierce through the toughest skin of animals and through the thin clothing of man. The bite is very severe and irritating, and as the flies sometimes occur in great numbers the annoyance that they cause is often very great indeed. It has often been claimed that these flies as well as the stable-fly and others carry the anthrax bacillus on their proboscis from one animal to another, and although this may not have been definitely proven the evidence is strong enough to make a very good case against the accused. It is interesting to note in this connection that anthrax, a very common disease among the domestic animals and one which may attack man also, was the first disease to be shown to be of bacterial origin. It was only about thirty-five years ago that the investigations of Koch and Pasteur demonstrated that the presence of this particular germ (Bacillus anthracis) was the cause of the disease, and it was early recognized that such biting flies may be important factors in the spread of the disease.
The stable-fly (Fig. 23) (Stomoxys calcitrans) which looks very much like the house-fly and, as will be noted later, frequently enters houses, is often an important pest of horses and cattle. Its blood-sucking habit makes it quite possible that it too may be concerned in carrying anthrax and other diseases.
In a later chapter it will be shown how the tsetse-fly, which is somewhat like the stable-fly, is responsible for the spread of the disease known as the sleeping sickness. This disease is caused by a Protozoan parasite, a trypanosome, which is transmitted from one host to another by the tsetse-fly.
In Southern Asia and in parts of Africa there is a very serious disease of horses known as surra which is caused by a similar parasite (Trypanosoma evansi). This parasite attacks horses, mules, camels, elephants, buffaloes and dogs, and has been recently imported into the Philippines. It is supposed that flies belonging to the same genus as the horse-fly (Tabanus and others), and the stable-fly (Stomoxys) and the horn-fly (Haematobia) are responsible for the spread of the disease.
Nagana is one of the most serious diseases of domestic animals in Central and Southern Africa. In some sections it is almost impossible to keep any kind of imported animals on account of this disease which is caused by a parasite (Trypanosoma brucei) similar to the one causing surra. This parasite is to be found in several different kinds of native animals which seem to be practically immune but are always a source of danger when other animals are introduced. Two or three species of tsetse-flies are responsible for the transmission of this disease.
Another group of flies much smaller but more numerous and much more insistent are the black-flies or buffalo-gnats (Fig. 24). For more than a century these little flies have been recognized as among the most serious pests of stock, particularly in the south where, besides the actual loss by death of many animals yearly, the annoyance is so great as to sometimes make it impossible to work in the field. Human beings are often attacked, and as the bite is poisonous and very painful great suffering may result and cases of deaths from such bites have been reported.
Belonging to another family, and smaller, but much like the buffalo-gnat in habits, are the minute little "punkies" or "no-see-ums" which sometimes occur in great swarms in certain regions where they make life a burden to man and beast. While it has not been shown that either the buffalo-gnats or the punkies are responsible for the transmission of any disease, their habits of feeding on so many different kinds of wild and domestic animals as well as on man makes it possible for them to act as carriers of parasites that might under proper conditions become of serious importance. Then, too, the irritation caused by the bites of these insects usually causes scratching which may result in abrasions of the skin that open the way for various harmful germs, particularly those causing skin diseases.
Coming now to the group containing the house-flies and related forms we find a number that are of interest on account of the suffering that they may cause, particularly in their larval stages.
The screw-worm flies (Chrysomyia macellaria) are among the most common and important of these (Fig. 25). These "gray flies," as they are sometimes called, lay a mass of three or four hundred eggs on the surface of wounds. The larvae which in a few hours hatch from these make their way directly into the wound where they feed on the surrounding tissue until full grown when they wriggle out and drop to the ground where they transform to the pupa and later to the adult fly. Of course their presence in the wounds is very distressing to the infected animal, and great suffering results. Slight scratches that might otherwise quickly heal often become serious sores because of the presence of these larvae.
Many cases are recorded of these flies laying their eggs in the ears or nose of children or of persons sleeping out of doors during the day. Especially is this apt to occur if there are offensive discharges which attract the fly. In such cases the larvae burrow into the surrounding tissues, devouring the mucous membranes, the muscles and even the bones, causing terrible suffering and usually, death. The larvae in such situations may be killed with chloroform and, if the case is attended to before they have destroyed too much of the tissues, recovery usually occurs.
The blow-flies (Fig. 26) (Calliphora vomitoria) and the blue-bottle flies (Fig. 27), (Lucilia spp.) and the flesh-flies (Fig. 28) (Sarcophaga spp.) all have habits somewhat like the screw-worm fly. Any of them may lay their eggs in wounds on man or animals with the same serious results.
The flesh-fly instead of laying eggs deposits the living larvae upon meat wherever it is accessible, and as these develop with astonishing rapidity they are able to consume large quantities of flesh in a remarkably short time. In this way they may be of some importance as scavengers, but it is better to get rid of the waste in other ways than to leave it for a breeding-place for flies that are capable of causing so much damage and suffering.
Not infrequently the larvae of certain flies are to be found in the alimentary canal where as a rule they do no particular damage. Altogether the larvae of over twenty different species of flies have been found in or expelled from the human intestinal canal. In Europe, the majority of these larvae belong to a fly which looks very much like the house-fly except that it is somewhat smaller and so is often known as "the little house-fly" (Fig. 29) (Homalomyia canicularis). The same species is very common in the United States, frequently occurring in houses. Under certain conditions it may even be more abundant than the house-fly. It is believed that the larvae in the intestinal canal come from eggs that have been deposited on the victim while using an outdoor privy where the flies are often very abundant. Instances are also on record where these larvae have been discharged from the urethra.
Another fly (Ochromyia anthropophaga) occurring in the Congo region has a blood-sucking larvae which is known as the Congo floor-maggot. The fly which is itself not troublesome deposits its eggs in the cracks and crevices of the mud floors of the huts. The larvae which hatch from these crawl out at night and suck the blood of the victim that may be sleeping on the floor or on a low bed.
BOT-FLIES
Another group of flies known as the bot-flies (Fig. 30) have their mouth-parts rudimentary or entirely wanting so of course they themselves cannot bite or pierce an animal. Nevertheless they are the source of an endless amount of trouble to stockmen and sometimes even attack man. Although these flies cannot bite, the presence of even a single individual may be enough to annoy a horse almost to the end of endurance. Horses seem to have an instinctive fear of them and will do all in their power to get rid of the annoying pests.
The eggs of the house bot-fly are laid on the hair of the legs or some other part of the body. The horse licks them off and they hatch and develop in the alimentary canal of their host. Sometimes the walls of the stomach may be almost covered with them thus of course seriously interfering with the functions of this organ. When full grown the larvae pass from the host and complete their transformation in the ground.
The bot-flies of cattle or the oxwarbles (Fig. 31) gain an entrance into the alimentary canal in the same way, that is, by the eggs being licked from the hairs on the body where they have been laid by the adult fly. But instead of passing on into the stomach they collect in the esophagus and later make their way through the walls of this organ and through the tissues of the body until they at last reach a place along the back just under the skin. Here as they are completing their development they make more or less serious sores on the backs of the infested animals. The hides on such animals are rendered nearly valueless by the holes made by the larvae. When fully mature they drop to the ground and complete their transformations.
The sheep bot-flies (Fig. 32) lay their eggs in the nostrils of sheep. The larvae pass up into the frontal sinuses where they feed on the mucus, causing great suffering and loss. Many other species of animals are infested with their own particular species of bots. Several instances are recorded where the oxwarble has occurred in man, always causing much suffering and sometimes death.
One or more species of bot-flies occurring in the tropical parts of America frequently attack man. The early larval stage soon after it has entered the skin is known as the Ver macaque. Later stages as torcel or Berne. The presence of the larvae produces very painful and troublesome sores. It is supposed that the adult flies (one species of which is Dermatobia cyaniventris) lay their eggs on the skin which the larvae penetrate as soon as they hatch. It has also been suggested that they might reach the subcutaneous tissue by migrating from the alimentary canal as do some of the other bot-flies. A very serious eye disease, Egyptian opthalmia, is known to be spread by the house-flies and others. These flies are often abundant about the eyes, especially of children suffering from this disease. It is suspected that certain small flies (Oscinidae) in the southern part of the United States are responsible for the spread of disease known as "sore eye."
FLEAS
The fleas used to be considered as degenerate Diptera and were placed with that group but they are now classed as a separate order (Siphonaptera). Within recent years these little pests have come into special prominence on account of their importance in connection with the spread of the plague. The fact that they are so abundant everywhere and that they will so readily pass from one host to another makes the possibility of their spreading infectious diseases very great. Besides the kinds that are concerned in the transmission of plague, which are discussed in another chapter, there are many other kinds infesting various wild and domesticated animals and a few attacking birds.
One of the most important of these is the jigger-flea or chigoe (Dermatophilus penetrans, Fig. 33). Various other names such as chigger-flea, sand-flea, jigger, chigger are also applied to this insect as well as to a minute red mite that burrows into the skin in much the same way as the female of the flea. So although they are entirely different creatures you can never tell from the common name, whether it is the flea or the mite that is being referred to. Both the male and female jigger-fleas feed on the host and hop on or off as do other fleas, but when the female is ready to lay eggs (Fig. 34), she burrows into the skin. Her presence there causes a swelling and usually an ulcer which often becomes very serious, especially if the insect should be crushed and the contents of the body escape into the surrounding tissue.
These little pests are found throughout tropical and subtropical America and have been introduced into Africa and from there have spread to India and elsewhere. They attack almost all kinds of animals as well as many birds, being of course a source of great annoyance and no inconsiderable loss. They are more apt to attack the feet of men, especially those who go barefooted. Sometimes they occur in such numbers as to make great masses of sores.
On account of being such general feeders they are difficult to control, but some relief may be obtained by keeping the houses and barns as free as possible from dirt and rubbish and by sprinkling the breeding-places of the pest with pyrethrum powder or carbolic water. Those that gain an entrance into the skin should be cut out, care being taken to remove the insect entire.
BEDBUGS
In the order Hemiptera, or the true "bugs" in an entomological sense, we find a few forms that may carry disease. The bedbug (Fig. 35) (Cimex lectularis) has been accused of transmitting plague, relapsing fever and other diseases. Very recent investigations show that the common bedbug of India (Cimex rotundatus) harbors the parasite that causes the disease known as kala azar, and there is no doubt that it transmits the disease.
LICE
The sucking lice (Fig. 36) which also belong to this order are suspected of carrying some of these same diseases. It is thought that the common louse on rats (Haematopinus spinulosus) is responsible for the spread from rat to rat of a certain parasite. (Trypanosoma lewisi), which, however, does not produce any disease in the rats, but if they are capable of acting as alternative hosts for such parasites, it is quite possible that they may also carry disease-producing forms.
HOW INSECTS MAY CARRY DISEASE GERMS
Insects may carry the germs or parasites which cause disease in a purely mechanical or accidental way, that is, the insect may in the course of its wanderings or its feeding get some of the germs on or in its body and may by chance carry these to the food, or water, or directly to some person who may become infected. Thus the house-fly may carry the typhoid germs on its feet or in its body and distribute them in places where they may enter the human body.
Several other flies as well as fleas, bedbugs, ticks, etc., may also carry disease germs in this mechanical way. While this method of transmission is just as dangerous as any other, and possibly more dangerous because more common, another method in which the insect is much more intimately concerned is more interesting from a biological standpoint at least and will be discussed more fully in the chapters on malaria, yellow fever and elephantiasis.
In these cases the insect is one of the necessary hosts of the parasite, which cannot go on with its development or pass from one patient to another unless it first enters the insect at a certain stage of its life-history.
BABY-BYE.
1. Baby-Bye, Here's a fly; We will watch him, you and I. How he crawls Up the walls, Yet he never falls! I believe with six such legs You and I could walk on eggs. There he goes On his toes, Tickling Baby's nose.
CHAPTER V
HOUSE-FLIES OR TYPHOID-FLIES
The page shown in Fig. 37 was copied from one of our old second readers and shows something of the spirit in which we used to regard the house-fly. A few of them were nice things to have around to make things seem "homelike." Of course they sometimes became too friendly during the early morning hours when we were trying to take just one more little nap or they were sometimes too insistent for their portion of the dinner after it had been placed on the table, but a screen over the bed would help us out a little in the morning and a long fly-brush cut from a tree in the yard or made of strips of paper tacked to a stick or, still more fancy, made of long peacock plumes, would help to drive them from the table. Those that were knocked into the coffee or the cream could be fished out; those that went into the soup or the hash were never missed!
Not only were the flies regarded as splendid things with which to amuse the baby, but they were thought to be very useful as scavengers as they were often seen feeding on all kinds of refuse in the yard. Then, too, they seemed to be cleanly little things, for almost any time some of them could be seen brushing their heads and bodies with their legs and evidently having a good clean-up. More than that it never occurred to us that it would be possible to get rid of them even should it be thought advisable, for they came from "out doors," and who could kill all the flies "out doors"?
Fortunately, or otherwise, these halcyon days have gone by and the common, innocent, friendly little house-fly is now an outcast convicted of many crimes and accused of a long list of others (Fig. 38).
Its former friends have become its sworn enemies. The foremost entomologist of the land has suggested that we even change its name and give it one that would be more suggestive of the abhorence with which we now look upon it.
And all these changes have come about because science has turned the microscope on the house-fly and men have studied its habits. We know now that as the fly is "tickling baby's nose" it may be spreading there where they may be inhaled or where they may be taken into the baby's mouth thousands of germs some of which may cause some serious disease. We know that as they are buzzing about our faces while we are trying to sleep they may, unwittingly, be in the same nefarious business, and we know that as they sip from our cups with us or bathe in our coffee or our soup or walk daintily over our beefsteak or frosted cake they are leaving behind a trail of filth and bacteria, and we know that some of these germs may be and often are the cause of some of our common diseases. As the typhoid germs are very often distributed in this way, Dr. Howard has suggested that the house-fly shall be known in the future as the typhoid-fly, not because it is solely responsible for the spread of typhoid, but because it is such an important factor in it and is so dangerous from every point of view. The names "manure fly" and "privy fly" have also been suggested and would perhaps serve just as well, as the only object in giving it another name would be to find a more repulsive one to remind us constantly of the filthy and dangerous habits of the fly. |
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