Fig. 96.—Section of Stegomyia pseudoscutellaris, showing filariae in thorax on tenth day of development, travelling forwards into proboscis. By permission from Manson’s Tropical Diseases.
In 1891 Manson noted the presence of the larval forms which showed a diurnal periodicity in the peripheral blood.
Dracunculus medinensis.—Ancient Egyptian writings would indicate that the disease was well known in those times. It is believed that the fiery serpent of the wilderness, which afflicted the Children of Israel, was an infection of this sort.
The prevalence of dracontiasis, as the infection is generally termed, in Arabia, was well known to the Greeks and Romans.
Fedschenko, in 1870, noted the transmission of the disease by species of Cyclops.
Onchocerca volvulus was first discovered in 1893, in peculiar tumors of the natives of the Gold Coast.
Fig. 97.—Female guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis) lying under the skin of the forearm. By permission from Manson’s Tropical Diseases.
Acanthocheilonema perstans was first found by Manson, in 1891, in the blood of natives of the Congo.