Experimental Investigations on Framboesia Tropica (Yaws)

Abstract

1. Monkeys are susceptible to yaws. The skin eruption in the monkeys I have experimented with (Semnopithecus priamus and Macacus pileatus) is, as a rule, confined to the seat of inoculation but the infection is general, as is proved by the presence of the Spirochaeta pertenuis in the spleen and lymphatic glands.2. Material obtained from persons suffering from yaws and apparently containing Spirochaeta pertenuis only is infective to monkeys.3. When the Spirochaeta pertenuis has been removed from this material by filtration, the latter becomes inert.4. The inoculation of blood from the general circulation and blood taken from the spleen of yaws patients into monkeys may give positive results.5. The inoculation of the cerebro-spinal fluid of yaws patients gives negative results.6. Monkeys successfully inoculated with yaws do not become immune for syphilis.7. Monkeys successfully inoculated with syphilis do not become immune for yaws.8. By means of the Bordet-Gengou reaction, it is possible to detect specific yaws antibodies and antigen.9. Yaws antibodies and antigen are entirely different from syphilitic antibodies and antigen.10. The presence of the Spirochaeta pertenuis in monkeys experimentally inoculated, as well as in yaws patients, is practically constant in the unbroken eruptive lesions; the Spirochaeta is frequently present in the spleen and lymphatic glands.11. Yaws is generally conveyed by actual contact, but under certain circumstances it may be conveyed by flies and possibly by other insects.