Guinea worm

“ The roundworms are slender, smooth, cylindrical worms pointed at both ends. They are all very long in proportion to their diameter, although their actual length may be short. Some species are of microscopic size; as the Trichina worm, which is about 1/20 in. long; while the guinea-worm, one of the worst parasites of man, may reach a length of six feet. Many of the roundworms are parasites living in the various organs of other animals. Some, however, lead an independent free life in water or in damp earth. ”

“ On this fact has been based an hypothesis that the young guinea- worm enters by the skin. I would interpret the fact, if fact it be, by suggesting that the mature guinea- worm, conformably to her instinct, seeks out that part of the body most in contact with water, which, in the case of the Indian water-carrier, is his back.
Premature death of parasite.— Occasionally the guinea-worm fails to pierce the integument of her host; sometimes she dies before arriving at maturity. ”

“ I believe the only parasite taken in with water in tropical climates is the Guinea Worm; an animal which burrows under the skin of the arms or legs, and is extremely difficult of extraction, and often productive of great inconvenience. ”

“ The guinea-worm may be described as a nematode measuring from one to six feet in length, having a thickness of 1/10th of an inch. The body is uniformly cylindrical, terminating below in a more or less curved and mucronately pointed tail. The head is flatly convex or truncate, having a central, simple mouth, which is surrounded by four equi-distantly and cruciately disposed papillæ. The mode of reproduction is viviparous, the body enclosing a prodigious number of hatched embryos, which, by distension of the uterine ducts, almost entirely obliterate the somatic cavity. ”

“ The sudd was full of insects, that caused great suffering to all concerned, and the air at all times was thick with mosquitoes. One of the most dreaded pests was the 'guinea-worm,' that embeds itself in the feet or ankles, and produces a disagreeable and often dangerous sore. This worm is peculiar to the tropics, and is justly feared by all persons liable to its attacks. ”

“ I went and told Schomburgk, who examined it, and at once diagnosed it as a very bad and greatly neglected case of filaria, otherwise guinea-worm. These dangerous parasites burrow under the human skin, generally in the feet or legs, and the female lays eggs, giving rise to abscesses, and also causing grave functional disturbances. They are removed by very slowly twining them round a stick, and the natives assert, and apparently with some measure of truth, that if the worm is broken in the process, the death of the person affected will ensue. ”

“ The guinea worm develops in the dermis of human beings without any symptoms; only when it is completely grown does it form boil-like, extremely painful abscesses, in the greater majority of cases in the legs, in the region of the ankle, and is accompanied by general disturbance and a feeling of heaviness, dragging and pricking of the affected part; it occurs more rarely in the arms, certain parts of the back, the head, neck, scrotum and penis; in a superficial position the worm can occasionally be felt through the skin. ”

“ There would be a discharge of the embryos into the water, and if less care were taken about the purity of the water-supply, and supposing there to be no adverse climatic influences, the worm would become common. This little story about guinea-worms shows how these and similar parasites pass from one man to another; and it shows how slight differences of habit, absence of intermediate host, and so on, govern the distribution of a parasite like Filaria loa. ”

“ Possibly some of the parasites in the lower animals described as guinea-worm may belong to quite a different species. The parasite (Figs. 146-8) .—The female is reputed to attain in some instances enormous dimensions; it is probable, however, that worms of 5 or 6 ft. in length owe their size to errors of observation, two worms, or their fragments, having been regarded as one. According to Ewart, in forty carefully measured specimens the smallest was about 32·5 cm., the largest 1 m. 20 cm. in length; 90 cm. is probably an average length. The diameter of the worm is about 1·5 to ”

“ I first saw here the Fertit, or genuine Guinea worm, although it is not unknown among the slaves, and Soudan merchants who come to Upper Egypt. It seems very common in Soudan, and I also saw it in Arabia. The worm does not attach itself exclusively to the leg; I have seen it issuing from the arm, the breast, and the knees, though its favourite place seems to be the calf of the leg. Persons are more rarely attacked with it in Shendy than in Kordofan and Darfour; and great numbers of the slaves and traders coming from the two latter places are affected by it. ”

“ The Tænia elliptica, the common tape-worm of the intestine of the dog, in the larval condition lives in the louse of this animal. The liver-fluke, Distomum hepaticum, occasionally found in the liver of man, but of common occurrence in the sheep, to which it proves so destructive in the affection known as rot, in the juvenile condition lives in a little fresh-water snail of the genus Lymneus. The guinea-worm, Filaria medinensis, which in the mature state is found beneath the skin of man, in the larval condition inhabits the minute crustacean cyclops of stagnant waters. ”

“ When the guinea-worm arrives at maturity a little vesicle or bulla is formed on the ankle or foot. The vesicle ruptures, and on careful examination you will see a small orifice in the centre in which sometimes the head of the worm may be seen, but not always. If you take a sponge and drop some cold water, not on, but in the neighbourhood of this orifice, you will see the hole become filled with a white grumous material, which under the microscope, and on adding a little water, is seen to be a wriggling, writhing mass of embryos. ”

“ It was with great reluctance that I dissented from the views of so gifted an observer as Bastian; nevertheless, later researches have shown that I was justified in not hastily concurring in the theory of a non-sexual mode of reproduction for Dracunculus.
Among the many advances of modern helminthology, the discovery of the true source of the guinea-worm is not the least important. To the late M. Fedschenko (the lamented and accomplished Russian traveller, who lost his life in a snowstorm on the Alps) , science stands indebted for this memorable advance. ”

“ The African negroes are also subject to many species of worms, both extraneous and internal, owing to the wading much in stagnated waters, and to the crudity of their diet. Of the former species is the Guinea or tape-worm, which breeds between the skin and the flesh, and is sometimes two yards in length, of a shining silvery colour, and not thicker than the second string of a bass-viol. ”

“ If a Guinea Pig is a good feeder and still does not grow, if he looks unhealthy and his coat is not glossy he may have worms. Give a half teaspoonful of any kind of worm medicine such as children use. ”

“ Guin′ea-fowl, a genus of African birds in the pheasant family, having dark-gray plumage with round spots of white, generally larger on the back and under surface; Guin′ea-grass, a grass of the same genus with millet, a native of Guinea and Senegal; Guin′ea-hen (Shak.) , a courtesan; Guin′ea-pepp′er (see Pepper) ; Guin′ea-pig, a small South American rodent, somewhat resembling a small pig, the cavy: (slang) a professional company director, without time or real qualifications for the duties; Guin′ea-worm, a very slender thread-like nematode worm common in tropical Africa. ”

“ It is the giant of a family of white, red, yellow, green, purple, and violet worms whose habitat ranges from sea bottoms to jungle treetops. The worms shoot poison-tipped harpoons out of their brains. Most can shrink at will to less than a third of their ordinary length. They always shrink when they die. Some can break up into hundreds of fragments, each of which will grow into a complete new worm. ”

“ The worms are found attached to the walls of the stomach and small intestines.
The tapeworms of marsupials are more numerous than flukes. Thus, we have Rudolphi’s Tænia festiva, eight to ten inches in length, occupying the gall-bladder and hepatic duct of Macropus giganteus. Dr Bancroft’s collection contains two almost perfect examples of a tapeworm which he procured from a small streaked kangaroo (Halmaturus Derbyanus) . These I have identified as T. festiva. In this worm the reproductive papillæ, not hitherto observed, are biserially arranged. ”

“ The immature and mature forms of tapeworms are parasites of vertebrate animals, but an invertebrate host is necessary for the completion of the life cycle of the fluke. The hog is the only specie of domestic animals that becomes a host for the thorn-headed worm. The round-worm is a very common parasite. ”

“ When worms are wanted for immediate use, and no provision has been made, the way to scour them quickly, is, if lob-worms, to put them all night in water; brandlings must not remain above one hour in it, and both sorts must be then put with fennel into the angler’s worm-bag.
Worms of different kinds inhabit the intestines; but except when they exist in very great numbers, they are not so hurtful as is generally supposed, although the groom or carter may trace to them hidebound, and cough, and loss of appetite, and gripes, and megrims, and a variety of other ailments. ”

“ The same host does not always harbour the same worms in the different regions of the globe which it inhabits. This relates both to the parasites of man, and to those of the domestic animals. Thus the large tapeworm of man, which naturalists call Bothriocephalus, is found only in Russia, Poland, and Switzerland. A small tape-worm, Tænia nana, is observed nowhere except in Abyssinia ”

“ Again, of two kinds of worms which infest human beings, the Bothriocephalus is found among the Poles, Swiss, and Dutch, while the Tenia, or tape-worm, is common among the French and Germans. If, however, the latter reside in Switzerland, they also become infested with the first-named worm, the reason given being, that in Switzerland liquid excretæ from cesspools are largely used for manuring vegetables, and that, in the eating of these vegetables, the eggs of the worms are taken into the body, and become hatched by means of the intestinal warmth. ”

“ Hence it is necessary to keep a sharp watch for dead specimens, which should, of course, be removed at once. The presence of a putrefying worm may often be detected by the appearance of a whitish fungoid growth round the mouth of what appears to be an empty tube; and if, through neglect, the water of the aquarium has been allowed to become contaminated by the products of decomposition, it will often happen that some of the living worms will come entirely out from their tubes, as if to seek a more sanitary situation. ”

“ Development takes place by a metamorphosis or alternation of generations (p. 283) . These worms are almost always hermaphroditic, with two or more female and one male sexual orifice. They live, almost without exception, as parasites on vertebrate animals, but the intermediate generations are passed in molluscs.
Class III.—Cestoda (Tapeworms) . Endoparasitic flat worms without an alimentary canal. The larval stages are rarely ciliated, but are usually provided with six spines; the adult worm is covered with a cuticle, the matrix cells of which are embedded in the parenchyma. ”

“ At the last joint, at the point where it joins the first segment of the body, a true head is formed, furnished with antennæ, jaws, and whatever else goes to make a marine worm "perfect after its kind," and forthwith the whole drops off, a complete animal, capable of maintaining a separate existence. Whether the process goes on for ever—that is to say, throughout all generations—of course, no one can tell; but if it does—and there is no reason to suppose the contrary—then it is self-evident that the posterior portion of one of these worms is, as I observed before, practically never dying. ”

“ The headless body moves only when stimulated. With most mud-dwelling species it is difficult to secure an entire specimen. The slender, fragile body is likely to break into many fragments when disturbed. Quite commonly, even without any particular disturbance, a large worm will break up into a dozen or more pieces. Each becomes a small, new animal. Some regenerating fragments secrete disks of mucous and form cradles, in which they may remain for months while new organs are being formed. Eventually the disk ruptures and the [Pg 24] new worm emerges. ”

“ I have occasionally noticed the same fact with worms kept in pots in the house; so that by looking down into their burrows, their heads could just be seen. If the ejected earth or rubbish over the burrows be suddenly removed, the end of the worm's body may very often he seen rapidly retreating. This habit of lying near the surface leads to their destruction to an immense extent. Every morning during certain seasons of the year, the thrushes and blackbirds on all the lawns throughout the country draw out of their holes an astonishing number of worms ”

“ Here the worm, always lodged in the intestines, grows with extraordinary rapidity, and fulfils all the conditions of a true parasite. In a fertile soil it extends itself and produces young as long as it has any life, and in no group of the animal kingdom do we find any fecundity to be compared to that of this worm. Boerhaave described a broad tape-worm, three hundred ells in length. ”