Serological studies on chinese Kala Azar

Abstract

With the object of improving the present methods of diagnosis and obviating the necessity for spleen or liver puncture, various experiments have been made to try and determine the serological changes that take place in the blood of Kala Azar patients. Up to the present, only two methods have been found to give satisfactory results, viz., the “ aldehyde reaction,” introduced by Napier (1921), and the “ globulin precipitation test,” discovered by Brahmachari (1917), and modified by Ray (1921). Both these methods are extensively used in China as an aid in the diagnosis of Kala Azar, and in some hospitals liver or spleen puncture is no longer practised. Struthers and Ch’i (1924) published the results of the examination of 141 Kala Azar patients, employing these methods of diagnosis, and found that 92.9 per cent. gave a positive globulin precipitation test, and 98 per cent, a positive aldehyde test. It is evident, therefore, that both these tests, and especially the latter, are a valuable aid to diagnosis. A few experiments were made to determine whether the blood of infected hamsters undergoes the same changes as take place in human cases. The results showed that infection in these animals was accompanied by similar serological changes, and consequently their blood was precipitated in the same way as that of Kala Azar patients.