Entamœba buccalis, Prow., is said to be allied to a protozoön which A. Tietze has found either encysted or free in the lumen of the orifice of the parotid gland of an infant aged 4 months. The gland had undergone pathological change, and had therefore been extirpated. The organisms, which were roundish and three to four times the size of the normal epithelial cells of the gland, were without a membrane and possessed a nucleus in which the chromatic substance appeared to be contained in a karyosome. Bass and John’s[30] (Feb. 1915) and Smith, Middleton and Barrett (1914) state that E. buccalis is the cause of pyorrhœa alveolaris.
Entamœba undulans, Aldo Castellani, 1905.
Under this name a protozoön is described which A. Castellani found in addition to Entamœba histolytica and Trichomonas intestinalis in the fæces of an European planter living in Ceylon, who had suffered from amœbic enteritis and liver abscess. The shape of the body was roundish or oval, 25 µ to 30 µ in the greatest diameter. It was without a flagellum, but with an undulating membrane, and capable of protruding a long pseudopodium from different parts of its body at short intervals. The nucleus could not always be recognized in life; it was, however, always demonstrable by staining. One or two contractile vacuoles were present. The protoplasm was finely granular, showing no differentiation into ecto- and endo-plasm. According to Braun, in spite of the author declaring himself expressly against the flagellate nature of the parasite, such a nature may be assumed to be tolerably certain in view of the description and illustration.
It is now considered that Entamœba undulans is a portion of a flagellate, namely, Trichomonas.
Entamœba kartulisi, Doflein, 1901.
Fig. 11.—Entamœba kartulisi, Dofl., from the pus of an abscess in the lower jaw, showing different stages of movement. (After Kartulis.)
Doflein gave this name to amœbæ, from 30 µ to 38 µ in diameter, which Kartulis (1893) found on examining the pus of an abscess in the right lower jaw of an Arab, aged 43, and in a portion of bone that had been extracted. The movements of the amœbæ (fig. 11) were more active than those of “dysenteric amœbæ.” Their coarsely granular cytoplasm contained blood and pus corpuscles, and a nucleus was generally only recognizable after staining. Vacuoles were not seen with certainty. Flexner reported upon a similar case, and Kartulis published five additional cases. As in these cases dental caries was present the infection is likely to have proceeded from the oral cavity as a result of the carious teeth. Craig[31] (1911) considers that this parasite is probably identical with Entamœba histolytica.
In the literature the following species have been reported as occurring in the oral cavity of man:—