Page:Tropical Diseases.djvu/842

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786
CALABAR SWELLINGS
[CHAP.

and inability to use the eye and, perhaps, tumefaction of the eyelids. Should a loa wander into the vicinity of such a situation as the rima glottidis or the urethra the consequences might be serious.

Bernard states that in operations for hydrocele he found L. loa encysted in the tunica vaginalis, and opines that they may be a cause of that condition; and Ouzilleau claims to have found them frequently in operations on the genitalia. Leiper has found cretitied specimens in the mesentery and parietal peritoneum.

CALABAR SWELLINGS

Under this name Thompstone described certain fugitive swellings which are of frequent occurrence in parts of tropical West Africa— southern Nigeria to Benguella and inland to the Upper Congo. They are found in natives and Europeans alike. I have seen many cases in Englishmen, especially in officials from the neighbourhood of Old Calabar. Thompstone says " the swellings are about the size of half a goose egg, painless, though somewhat' hot both objectively and subjectively, not pitting on pressure, and usually disappear in about three days. They come suddenly and disappear gradually, and occur in any part of the body." Thompstone never saw more than one swelling at a time. They recur at irregular intervals and, it may be, during many years after the patient has returned to Europe, In some instances the swellings seem to be induced by the rubbing provoked by the irritation accompanying the presence of a L. loa just under the skin, in other instances they develop spontaneously. When occurring in the hand, or about the forearm, they may give rise to a sensation of powerlessness and soreness as if the part had received a blow. They never suppurate.

Although in a large proportion of cases L. loa larvæ cannot be found, in others either the parent worm has shown itself on the eye, or its microfilariæ have been detected in the blood. The latter circumstance, together with the geographical feature of the endemicity of these swellings and their clinical characters, makes it practically certain that they are