Tick-borne relapsing fever in Somaliland with special reference to the blood sedimentation rate.

Abstract

Abstract 1. (1)|An account of the clinical features and complications of tick-borne relapsing fever in Somaliland has been given. 2. (2)|The Kahn test was negative in the eight cases examined. 3. (3)|In this series, neutrophilia was the exception rather than the rule. 4. (4)|B.S.R. estimations were made during, and for several weeks after, attacks. There was a tendency to a raised rate for several weeks after an attack, and to fluctuation in the B.S.R. without any corresponding clinical signs of activity. 5. (5)|It is believed that a latent infection persists in the body (possibly the brain) for a considerable period after all clinical signs have disappeared. An analogy is drawn to the latency and neurotropic character of Treponema pallidum . 6. (6)|Arsenical therapy was of benefit in some areas, while proving of no value whatsoever in other districts, the explanation probably being the occurrence of arsenic-resistant strains of spirochaetes in certain localities. 7. (7)|Penicillin did not prevent relapses.