TRANSMISSION OF POLIOMYELITIS BY STOMOXYS CALCITRANS. 



At the International Congress on Hygiene held in 

 Washington last September, Kosenau announced that he had 

 succeeded in conveying poliomyelitis from an infected 

 monkey to several other monkeys by means of the bites of 

 Stomoxys calcitrans, the small biting stable-fly. This obser- 

 vation has recently been confirmed by Anderson and Frost 

 (1912). Three monkeys exposed daily to the bites of 300 

 stomoxys which had previously fed on two infected monkeys 

 during the whole course of their illness all developed the 

 disease seven to nine days after their first exposure. The 

 observation is of particular interest because hitherto the 

 transmission of poliomyelitis by the subcutaneous inocula- 

 tion of blood from an infected monkey has been very un- 

 certain even when large quantities of blood have been 

 transferred. It suggests that either the previous experiments 

 have been made at the wrong stage of the disease, or else 

 that the virus multiplies or intensifies in the body of 

 the fly. 



The incidence of the disease being summer and autumn is 

 consistent with insect transmission, but the continuance of 

 the epidemic in Sweden after flies had disappeared indicates 

 that there are other means of spread. 



BED BuGS(CiMEX LECTULARIUS) AS PORTERS OF INFECTION. 



The general career of the bed bug is more or less familiar 

 to most people, but it may not be unnecessary to point out 

 that, unlike fleas, there is no larval or pupal stage, but the 

 insect emerges from the egg as a little bug. For the following 

 facts I am indebted to my colleague, Mr. Bacot, who has 

 made observations on this subject. 



The young bug sucks blood on the earliest opportunity, 

 grows and moults, and feeds again. After five moults it is 

 a sexually mature and adult insect. Bugs only visit their 

 host for food, and then preferably at night ; they strongly 

 resent light, and during the day hide themselves in some 

 cranny of the room or furniture. They are very hardy, and 

 do not require the constant feeding which is so troublesome 

 in breeding lice and fleas. They can survive without food 

 for six months or more. A bug which has imbibed a good 

 meal retires to some secluded spot and slowly digests it. It 

 is some days before it develops a fresh appetite and sallies 

 forth again in search of prey. 



