VIABLE LEISHMANIA DONOVANI IN NASAL AND ORAL SECRETIONS OF PATIENTS WITH KALA-AZAR AND THE BEARING OF THIS FINDING ON THE TRANSMISSION OF THE DISEASE
Open Access
- 1 April 1934
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Rockefeller University Press in The Journal of Experimental Medicine
- Vol. 59 (4) , 491-499
- https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.59.4.491
Abstract
Smears from the nasal cavities of 15 kala-azar patients were examined; in 9, typical Leish-man-Donovan bodies were found. Smears from the surface of the tonsil and from the saliva in 1 case contained leishmania. The tonsils of this patient, who died as the result of kala-azar and secondary infection, at autopsy were massively infected with Leishman-Donovan bodies. Leishmania in the nasal discharge of 2 patients were shown by inoculation into susceptible animals to be viable and capable of producing infection. Thus a rich source of infective material from a large proportion of patients with kala-azar is available for direct transmission of the disease. This is perhaps the most important natural mode of transmission.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: