NO. IO COCKROACHES—ROTH AND WILLIS WG 
Periplaneta americana and Periplaneta australasiae, Formosa (Ari- 
zumi, 1934, 1934a): When fed an emulsion of leprous nodules, the 
cockroaches began to excrete M. leprae in their feces within 8 hours. 
This excretion of bacilli continued for 94 hours, but showed the high- 
est positive infection 20, 32, and 44 hours after feeding. Morpho- 
logically the bacilli appeared to be unharmed by passage through the 
gut. 
Cockroaches, Belgian Congo, Pawa (Radna, 1939): Three cock- 
roaches were fed on leprous material and Hansen’s bacilli were iso- 
lated from their feces. Venezuela (Tejera, 1926) : Cockroaches were 
fed with material containing a large quantity of M. leprae, the intes- 
tinal contents were positive up to the eleventh day for acid-fast bacilli 
morphologically identical to M. leprae. India, Calcutta (Leprosy Re- 
search Department, 1948): Cockroaches whose feces were free of 
acid-fast bacilli for 3 consecutive days were fed leprous material. 
Acid-fast bacilli were obtained in decreasing number for 2 weeks 
thereafter. 
Mycobacterium lepraemurium Marchoux and Sorel 
Common name.—Rat leprosy bacillus. 
Disease —Endemic disease of rats in various parts of world. 
Experimental vectors.—Cockroaches, Belgian Congo (Radna, 
1939): The day after feeding on infectious material, the insects ex- 
creted acid-fast bacteria in their feces. The feces were diluted in 
physiological saline and injected into five wild rats. Two of the rats 
died after 134 and 156 days, respectively. Both had general visceral 
and ganglionic leprosy. 
Mycobacterium phlei Lehmann and Neumann 
Disease.—Injection into guinea pigs results in local abscesses. 
Widely distributed in soils, dust. 
Natural vectors—Periplaneta americana, U.S.A., Texas (D. W. 
Micks, p.c.): Organism isolated from batches of intestinal tracts 
of these cockroaches taken at random. Micks also found Mycobac- 
terium spp. and M. friedmanu on the cockroaches. The latter is ap- 
parently pathogenic only to cold-blooded animals. U.S.A., Texas 
(Leibovitz, 1951): Leibovitz isolated an organism that he tentatively 
identified as M. phlei from the macerated intestines of cockroaches 
collected in sewers. 
Mycobacterium piscium Bergey et al. 
Synonymy. “Tuberkuleznykh kultur (rybii)” of Pavlovskii, 1948. 
Disease—Infectious for carp, frogs, lizards, but not for guinea 
