DEMONSTRATION OF SPIROCHAETA PALLIDA IN THE CEREBROSPINAL FLUID

Abstract

The presence ofSpirochaeta pallidain human tissues and body fluids has been demonstrated either by animal inoculation or by direct examination of stained smears and of fresh preparations, especially with the aid of the dark-ground illumination. In the case of the cerebrospinal fluid, only one successful inoculation is on record. Hoffman,¹in 1906, reported the inoculation of a monkey's eyebrow with spinal fluid from a patient with papular syphilis and the appearance of a small but distinct lesion in thirty-two days. A number of failures have been reported with the use of monkeys, one by Hoffman, two by Neisser²and seven by Thibierge and Ravaut and LeSourd.³The last-named authors used the centrifugate of spinal fluid from patients with secondary syphilis, cerebrospinal syphilis and hereditary syphilis, but never succeeded in producing a lesion. By direct examination, spirochetes have been found in the spinal fluid in five