As before mentioned, Eimeria stiedæ is considered to be the organism found in a few cases in man, possibly acquired by eating the insufficiently cooked livers of diseased rabbits. These cases may now be described.
(a) Human Hepatic Coccidiosis.
(1) Gubler’s Case. A stone-breaker, aged 45, was admitted to a Paris hospital suffering from digestive disturbances and severe anæmia. On examination the liver was found to be enlarged and presented a prominent swelling, which was regarded as being due to Echinococcus. At the autopsy of the man, who succumbed to intercurrent peritonitis, twenty cysts were found averaging 2 to 3 cm. in diameter, and one measuring 12 to 15 cm. The caseous contents consisted of detritus, pus corpuscles, and oval-shelled formations, which were considered to be Distoma eggs, but which, in accordance with Leuckart’s conjecture, proved to be Coccidia.[177]
(2) Dressler’s Case (Prague). Relates to three cysts, varying from the size of a hemp-seed to that of a pea, and containing Coccidia, found in a man’s liver.[178]
(3) Sattler’s Case (Vienna). Coccidia were in this case observed in the dilated biliary duct of a human liver.[179]
(4) Perls’ Case (Giessen). Perls discovered Coccidia in an old preparation of Sömmering’s agglomerations.[180]
(5) Silcock’s Case (London).[181] The patient, aged 50, who had fallen ill with serious symptoms, exhibited fever, enlarged liver and spleen, and had a dry, coated tongue. At the autopsy numerous caseous centres, mostly immediately beneath the surface, were found, while the contiguous parts of the liver were inflamed. Microscopical examination demonstrated numerous Coccidia in the hepatic cells as well as in the epithelium of the biliary ducts. A deposit of Coccidia was likewise found in the spleen, which the parasites had probably reached by means of the blood-stream.[182]
(b) Human Intestinal Coccidiosis.
In two cadavers at the Pathological Institute in Berlin, Eimer[183] found the epithelium of the intestine permeated by Coccidia. Railliet and Lucet’s case may be traced back to intestinal Coccidia, which were found in the fæces of a woman and her child, who had both suffered for some time from chronic diarrhœa.[184] In other cases (Grassi, Rivolta), where only the existence of Coccidia in the fæces was known, it is doubtful whether the parasites originated in the intestine or in the liver.