38 



St. John, J. H. , Simmons, J. S. , Reynolds, F. H. K. 1930 

 The survival of various microorganisms within the gastro- 

 intestinal tract of Aed.es aegypti . Amer. J. Trop. Med. ? 



10, 237-2^1. 



MYCOBACTER I UM TUBERCULOS I s Lehmann and Neumann 



Insects concerned: The "bee moth, Galleria mellonella ; the 

 house fly, Muse a domestica ; Achraca grissella ; and the 

 cockroach, Periplaneta americana . 



Metalnikov (191*0 found that the larvae of A chraca 

 grissella , when kept at room temperature, were susceptible 

 to infection with piscine strains of Mycobacterium tuber - 

 culosis . In 1920 he showed also that the larvae of the 

 bee moth were susceptible. 



Spielman and Haushalter (I887) appear to have been the 

 first to express belief that house flies that have fed on 

 tubercular sputum may serve as carriers. They found 

 Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the intestinal contents and 

 feces of flies fed on tubercular sputum. Others (Hofmann, 

 1885; Celli, 1888; Andre, I908; Graham-Smith, 1913) have 

 made similar observations. Riley and Johannsen (1938) 

 express the opinion that laboratory and epidemiological 

 evidence indicates that house flies play a role in the 

 dissemination of tuberculosis. 



Macfie (Riley and Johannsen, 1932) fed cockroaches on 

 tubercular sputum and normal tubercle bacilli were iso- 

 lated from the feces on the second to fifth day. To prove 

 their virulence, guinea pigs were injected, which subse- 

 quently became infected. Tejera (1926) also reported that 

 the tubercle bacillus passes through the cockroach intes- 

 tine unharmed. 



Celli, A. 1888 Trasmissibilita dei germi patogeni 



mediante le dejectione delle mosche. Bull. d. Soc. 



Lancisiana d. ospedali di Roma, 1.1. (Quoted by 



Nuttall and Jepson, 1909, 27). 

 Graham- Smith, G. S. 1913 Flies in relation to disease, 



292 pp. University Press, Cambridge. (See pp. 175-179- ) 

 Hofmann, E. 1888 Ueber die Verbreitung der Tuberculose 



durch Stubenfliegen. Correspondenzbl. d. arztl. Kreis-u. 



Bezirksvereine im Konigr. Sachsen, kk_, 130-133* 

 Metalnikov, S. 191^ De la tuberculose chez les insectes. 



Compt. rend. soc. biol. , J§_, 95-9^. 

 Metalnikov, S. 1920 Sur la digestion des bacilles tuber- 



culeux dans le corps des chenilles des mites des abeilles 



(Galleria mellonella). Compt. rend. soc. biol., 83 , 



211+-215. 



