IMPERIAL BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



REVIEW 



OP V-^-, 



APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY. 



Series B. 

 Vol. VI.] [1918. 



Cornwall (J. W.) & Men on (T. K.). On the Possibility of the Trans- 

 mission of Plague by Bed Bugs. — Indian Jl. Med. Research, 

 Calcutta, V, no. 1, July 1917, pp. 137-159. [Received 27tli October 

 1917.] 



Bed-bugs that have fed on a case of septicaemic plague must' 

 undoubtedly be regarded as ambulant cultures which, when ruptured, 

 set free virulent plague bacilli. This paper describes transmission 

 experiments in which virulent strains of Bacillus pestis were employed. 

 A large proportion of the bugs infected died within a few days ; the 

 majority of the survivors had entirely overcome their infection and 

 contained no viable bacilli. Some common non-pathogenic bacteria 

 are as fatal to bugs as the most pathogenic. Bugs infected with 

 bacteria generally refuse to feed for a long time. A sterile re-feed, if 

 the infection has not been entirely overcome, may lead to a fatal 

 recrudescence. B. pestis can survive in the stomach of a bug which 

 has had one or more sterile feeds after the original infected feed, for 

 at least 38 days, and the bacillus, recovered by culture from the 

 stomach of an infected bug, retains its virulence for guinea-pigs. 

 Attempts to obtain a growth of B. pestis by allowing infected bugs to 

 feed on a sterile fluid through a rabbit-skin membrane failed. 

 Experiments to transmit plague to guinea-pigs by means of the bites 

 of infected bugs were also unsuccessful. B. pestis may be recovered 

 by cultivation cf the proboscis of a bug in broth within an hour of its 

 infected feed. The presumption is that bacilli that have been stranded 

 in the sucking tube multiply in the culture medium. 



Bugs cannot regurgitate their stomach contents in the act of feeding ; 

 if, therefore, they transmit plague by biting, they must do so by 

 washing out with the saliva bacilli that have been stranded in their 

 sucking-tubes and that do not remain there for long after an infected 

 feed. It has not yet been definitely proved whether bugs can or 

 cannot transmit plague by biting ; but the likelihood of this taking 

 place under natural conditions is small. 



AwATi (P. R.). studies in Flies, iii. Classification of the Genus Musca 



and Description of the Indian Species. — Indian Jl. Med. Research, 



Calcutta, V, no. 1, July 1917, pp. 160-191, 10 plates. [Received 



27th October 1917.] 



In a previous paper the author gave a key to the identification of 



(C434) Wt. P5/131. 1,500. 1.18. B.&F..Ltd. Gp.11/3. A 



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