Mongolian Spots

MONGOLIAN SPOTS (French taches bleues congenitales mongoliques), bluish spots of rounded shape, observed on the skin at the dorsal edge of the anus. The skin in the area of the Mongolian spots is smooth, and in its depths contain accumulations of stellate pigment cells. By some authors, Mongolian spots are taken as a sign of the mongoloid race; however, this sign is also observed in the white race. Fischer (W. Fischer) regards Mongolian spots as an atavistic trait (observed in monkeys).

Figure 1. Figure 2. The latter case also consists in the fact that in the village from which the patient originates (former Yaroslavl Governorate, Uglich Uezd, Vysokovo Volost, Pavlovskaya village), this disease is very widespread. Of 44 cases (Heuck), 16 cases are familial, 28 are sporadic, and in 15 of the latter the parents of the patients are apparently healthy. The clinical picture of sporadic cases differs from familial ones; in the former, the lesion has a focal character, affects the eyebrows, beard, armpits, etc., and begins at an older age than familial cases. The latter gives grounds for Heuck to consider that the diseases described as Monilethrix have a different etiology: familial cases are genotypic, while in sporadic ones the etiology is unknown. Rakhmanov and others note the frequent coincidence of Monilethrix with keratosis follicularis; this gives reason to believe that in the described families these diseases are the consequence of a pleiotropic effect of a single gene. Treatment is symptomatic, unreliable. It is recommended to lubricate the skin with fats with the addition of salicylic acid, resorcinol, etc.; frequent washing with mild potassium soap, massage, X-rays, etc.

I. Odeov. MONILIFORMIS, a genus of spiny-headed worms (Acanthocephala) from the family Moniliformidae (van Cleave; 1924). One species of this genus, Moniliformis moniliformis (Bremser; 1811), syn. Echinorhynchus moniliformis, has been recorded in humans. Characters. The male reaches 5.5-86 mm in length, and the female 7-239 mm. The body externally is characterized by the presence of numerous pseudo-segments, giving the parasite a bead-like character. The proboscis hooks form 12-16 (usually 12) longitudinal rows, with 10-12 (usually 11) hooks in each. The hooks of the middle third of the proboscis reach 0.025-0.030 mm. Size of mature eggs: length 0.109-0.137 mm, width 0.057-0.063 mm. Testes are oval, pushed far back; there are 8 prostate glands. Biology. Intermediate hosts: the beetle Blaps mucronata and the cockroach Periplaneta americana. Definitive hosts: numerous species of rodents. Facultative host: man. Cosmopolitan. In humans, the parasite has been recorded 4 times. Calandruccio (1888) caused an experimental invasion in himself by swallowing several Moniliformis larvae extracted from the body cavity of the beetle Blaps. Nineteen days after this, cutting pains in the intestine and phenomena of severe diarrhea appeared. After five weeks, eggs of the parasite were found in the feces. After taking Extractum Filicis maris, the parasites were expelled, and two days later all clinical phenomena began to gradually disappear.

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