BILHARZIA HÆMATOBIA

A fluke-like parasite. It is bisexual. The body of the male is thread-shaped, round, white, and flattened anteriorly. The female is thin and delicate. This creature was discovered in the portal vein and bladder of man by Bilharz, of Cairo, after whom it was named. It is especially prevalent in those who dwell by the banks of the Nile, and is also very frequently met with amongst the inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope. It is the cause of very serious disturbance in the human economy, and not infrequently of death. The main symptoms of the disease this dangerous parasite sets up are those which point to derangement of the urinary organs; but its effects are not confined to these, since there seems little room to doubt that it is the chief cause of the dysentery so prevalent in Egypt, the eggs of the diatom a being found deposited within the intestinal ve els, or beneath the exudations of the swollen mucous membrane. Dr Harley has found the ova in the urine of persons affected with hæmaturia at the Cape of Good Hope. When death ensues from the presence of this parasite the post-mortem appearances are various. In the bowels, congestion, deposits upon the mucous membrane, and extensive ulcerations, degeneration and atrophy of the kidneys, dependent upon an infiltrated state of the ureters, and blocking of the portal vein, due to the presence of myriads of the parasites, are some of the most important pathological changes.