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See also:ELEPHANTIASIS (Barbadoes See also:leg; Boucnemia)
, is a disease dependent on chronic lymphatic obstruction, and characterized by See also:hypertrophy of the skin and subcutaneous See also:tissue
.
Two distinct forms are known, (I) See also:elephantiasis arabum, due to the development of living parasites, filaria sanguinis hominis (or filaria Bancrofti), and (z) the non-filarial See also:form due to lymphatic obstruction from any other cause whatsoever, as See also:erysipelas, the See also:deposit of tuberculous or cancerous material in the lymphatic glands, phlegmasia dolens (See also: The See also:young See also:worm develops, bores through the gastric mucous membrane and finally becomes lodged in the lymphatics; usually of one or other of the extremities . A large number of embryonic filariae are produced . Some remain in the lymphatic spaces and cause lymphatic obstruction, while others enter the See also:blood stream by See also:night (filaria nocturna), or by See also:day (filaria diurna) . It is supposed that a mosquito, biting an infected See also:person, itself becomes infected with the blood it abstracts, and that so a new See also:generation is See also:developed . Treatment for this condition is unsatisfactory . Occasionally the dilated See also:lymph trunks can be found, and an operation per-formed to implant them in some vein (lymphangeioplasty) . And in some few other cases artificial lymphatics have been made by introducing sterilized See also:silk See also:thread in the subcutaneous tissues of the affected part, and prolonging it into the normal tissues . This operation has been most successful when performed on elephantoid arms dependent on a See also:late stage of cancerous See also:breast . See also:Elevation of the See also:limb and elastic pressure should always be tried, but often amputation has to be resorted to in the end . The disease is totally different from the so-called elephantiasis graecorum or true leprosy, for which see LEPROSY . See also:ELEPHANT'S-See also:FOOT, the popular name for the plant Testudinaria elephantipes, a native of the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope . It takes its name from the large tuberous See also:stem, which grows very slowly but often reaches a considerable See also:size, e.g. more than 3 yds. in circumference with a height of nearly 3 ft. above ground . It is See also:rich in See also:starch, whence the name Hottentot See also:bread, and is covered on the outside with thick, hard, corky plates . It develops slender, leafy, climbing shoots which See also:die down each See also:season . It is a member of the monocotyledonous See also:order Dioscoreaceae;See also:half of the 17th See also:century, when it became a centre for the See also:trade with See also:south See also:Russia . |
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