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18
GEE and Massey (17) give an interesting account of Aspergillus
fumigatus infecting Malacosoma thereby finding its way through the
intestine into the body cavity. It would, however, be unwise to
draw a parallel between the intestinal wall of a lepidopterous larva
and that of higher animals.
The theory of the destructive properties of pathogenic moulds
has, however, undergone a marked change in recent years. It was
formerly supposed that mechanical irritation, stoppage of the blood
vessels by spores, etc. were the only causes of mycotic disturbances.
Since Cent (6—11) and Besta (6) succeeded in isolating virulent
toxins from a number of moulds, it has become more and more
apparent that the extensive alterations noticed in the tissues attacked
by pathogenic moulds are due to a great extent to such toxins.
The authors just mentioned injected extractions from spores and
mycelium of Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger, A. ochraceus,
and of several strains of Penicillium glaucum intraperitoneally,
subcutaneously, and intravenously in animals and found that death
very often resulted, preceded by spasmatic paresis and ataxia,
sometimes accompanied by tetanic and epileptic convulsions.
Feeding with Aspergillus fumigatus also led to the death of the
animals. On account of striking symptomatic similarities of the
disease caused by injecting or feeding animals with toxic moulds -
and pellagra, these workers assume an etiological connection between
the eating of mouldy foodstuffs and this affliction, which is so
prevalent in Italy and other countries where the food of the working
classes mainly consists of maize and other grain.
Of subsequent workers in this field Orro (46) corroborates most
of the conclusions of CENI and Besta, calling special attention to
one of the most striking points brought out by the work of CENI,
namely, that while during spring, summer, and early fall toxins of
the most virulent kind are produced, little or no toxin appears in
the winter months even if the moulds are kept in incubator. He
also finds the Italian strains of Aspergillus fumigatus more toxic
than the German. On one mportant point the results obtained by
Orro differ from those by Cent. No toxic effect was noticed when
spores of the Italian Aspergillus fumigatus were fed to rabbits. ZiPPEL
(72), as far back as 1894, fed large quantities of » Penicillium glaucum »
to a number of animals and came to the conclusion that moulds
taken in with the food were absolutely harmless. On the other
hand, numerous cases of forage poisoning in cattle, known to
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