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Florida School of Veterinary medicine. These strains have also been 

 maintained by serial passage in Syrian hamsters and Balb/c mice. 

 Infected hamsters were kept in individual isolation cages inside a 

 Bioclean® portable laminar air-flow enclosure (Hazleton Systems Inc., 

 Aberdeen, MD) at 23°C in a secure animal room. Laboratory-reared Lu . 

 diabolica and Lu. shannoni from established colonies were used in 

 these experiments. The former originated from wild-stock collected at 

 Garner State Park, Uvalde County, Texas (see Chapters 2 and 3) and the 

 latter from wild-stock collected in Alachua and Levy Counties, Florida 

 (Perkins, 1982). 



Hamsters with large histiocytomas on the ear, nose or feet were 

 used to infect sand flies (Fig. 4-1). They were anesthetized with 

 0.18 to 0.20 cc ketamine chloride given intramuscularly (IM) in the 

 hind thigh. Two to three-day-old laboratory-reared Lu. diabol ica and 

 Lu . shannoni were placed in individual or group feeding vials with 

 large-mesh screen lids. The surface of the screen was then placed 

 directly against a histiocytoma on an infected hamster. These areas, 

 rich in parasites, were fed upon readily by the sand flies. The 

 procedure was carried out in a three-sleeved isolation chamber (Fig. 

 4-2), within the confines of a class II laboratory facility. 



The size of each blood meal was graded according to the following 

 scale: probe = no blood visible; #1 = trace of blood in the thorax; 

 #2 = abdomen about one quarter to one half full; #3 = abdomen about 

 two thirds to three quarters full; #4 = abdomen full of blood and 

 distended. Females that fed on infected hamsters were maintained 

 individually in 7-dram oviposition/rearing vials in a Hotpack 

 environmental chamber at 27 + 1°C and near 100% RH. Dissections of 



