ENTOMOLOGY

THE BEDBUG AND OTHER BLOODSUCKING BUGS 398·-:: Bacillus typhosus Eberth, cause of TYPHOID FEVER, may possiblybe transmitted by the bedbug, according to Riggs.DISEASES OF UNKNOWN ORIGINPOLIOMYELITIS or INFANTILE P ARAL YSIS has been suspectedby various authors of being insect-transmitted. Manning has.made a contribution to the study of the possible agency of the bedbugin the transmission of this disease and claims .that the bedbug fulfillsthe· necessary requirements as a carrier of this disease. Howard andClark (191!e) obtained definite experimental evidence of the possibility ofthe -bedbug as a carrier. In one. out of several experiments, ten bedbugsfed on a patient took. up the virus and when, seven days later,these were killed, ground up in salt solution, filtered, and injected, themonkey beca~e paralyzed and an autopsy showed typical lesions. Asecond monkey inoculated from this otie developed·a definite paralysis onthe 6th day and an autopsy showed characteristic lesions.DISEASES OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM TRANSMITTED BY BUGSProtozoaM astigoplwra: Bi'TIIUCleata: TrypanosomidaeCastellanella brucei (Plimmer and Bradford) Chalmers (Trypano-8oma), the cause of NAGANA of animals, and probably identical withthe causative organism of SLEEPING SICKNESS, was experimentallytransmitted, according to Sangiorgi, to white mice by the bite of Cimexlectularius. This organism is normally transmitted by tsetse flies andhorse flies.Castellanella equinum (Voges) (Trypanosoma) the cause of MALDE CADERAS, a South American disease of horses, of which the wildanimal reservoir is probably the capybara, is probably transmitted bythe kissing bug, Triatoma infestans, but Sangiorgi succeeded in transmittingit to white mice by tlie bite of Cimex lectularius.Schizotrypanum cruzi Chagas (Trypanosoma) the cause of CHAGASFEVER, a disease of man in South America, is carried by sucking bugs.The disease has its reservoir in the armadillo· and related animals. Chagaliand Brumpt have proven that the natural invertebrate hosts are thekissing bugs Triatoma megista Burmeister, T. sordida Stal, T. geniculataLatreille, and T. chagasi, and, undoubtedly also Rlwdnius proli:r:ua Stiil.Gonzales-Lugo has obtained' experimental transmission' with the last