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On the supposed Development of Trypanosoma lewisi in Lice and Fleas; and the Occurrence of Crithidia ctenophthalmi in Fleas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

C. Strickland
Affiliation:
(From the Quick Laboratory, Cambridge.)

Extract

1. The alimentary tracts of 104 lice (Haematopinus spinulosus), which had been taken from rats infected with T. lewisi, were examined. In 51 lice no trace of T. lewisi could be found. In 53 lice T. lewisi, unchanged in every particular, was found in various parts of the gut. The trypanosome was seen to be quite unchanged in stained preparations.

2. The alimentary tracts of 45 fleas (Ctenophthalmus agyrtes), which had fed on infected rats, were examined. The T. lewisi could not be found at all in 43 fleas. They disappeared very rapidly from the ingested blood and could not be found in stained preparations. In 2 fleas trypanosomes were found, but they did not differ in form from those seen in the blood of the rat.

3. 263 lice were examined from rats which were apparently uninfected with T. lewisi. No form of T. lewisi was discovered in fresh or stained preparations.

4. 31 fleas from uninfected rats were dissected and their alimentary tracts examined. No trace of T. lewisi was found.

5. 15 lice were examined 18–48 hours after their removal from an infected rat. T. lewisi was found in 7 of these, but they shewed no developmental changes.

6. Observations made upon 36 lice from infected rats shewed that at the earlier stages of digestion T. lewisi was more often found than at the later stages. In some lice however trypanosomes could not be found at the early stages of digestion, although they were present at an advanced stage of digestion.

7. The examination of other organs than the alimentary canal in fleas and lice did not shew any form of T. lewisi.

8. Crithidia ctenophthalmi was found in 9 Ctenophihalmus agyrtes.

9. About 370 lice and 75 fleas were examined but no evidence was obtained of developmental changes of T. lewisi in either fleas or lice.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1909

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References

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