THE BEDBUG AND OTHER BLOODSUCKING BUGS 393 



Bacillus typhosus Eberth, cause of TYPHOID FEVER, may possibly 

 be transmitted by the bedbug, according to Riggs. 



DISEASES OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 



POLIOMYELITIS or INFANTILE PARALYSIS has been sus- 

 pected by various authors of being insect-transmitted. Manning has 

 made a contribution to the study of the possible agency of the bedbug 

 in the transmission of this disease and claims that the bedbug fulfills 

 the necessary requirements as a carrier of this disease. Howard and 

 Clark (1912) obtained definite experimental evidence of the possibility of 

 the bedbug as a carrier. In one out of several experiments, ten bed- 

 bugs fed on a patient took up the virus and when, seven days later, 

 these were killed, ground up in salt solution, filtered, and injected, the 

 monkey became paralyzed and an autopsy showed typical lesions. A 

 second monkey inoculated from this one developed a definite paralysis on 

 the 6th day and an autopsy showed characteristic lesions. 



DISEASES OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM TRANSMITTED BY BUGS 



Protozoa 

 Mastigophora: Birmcleata: Trypanosomidae 



Castellanella brucei (Plimmer and Bradford) Chalmers (^Trypano- 

 soma), the cause of NAGANA of animals, and probably identical with 

 the causative organism of SLEEPING SICKNESS, was experimentally 

 transmitted, according to Sangiorgi, to white mice by the bite of Cimear 

 lectularius. This organism is normally transmitted by tsetse flies and 

 horse flies. 



Castellanella equmum (Voges) (Trypanosoma) the cause of MAL 

 DE CADERAS, a South American disease of horses, of which the wild 

 animal reservoir is probably the capybara, is probably transmitted by 

 the kissing bug, Triatoma infestans, but Sangiorgi succeeded in trans- 

 mitting it to white mice by the bite of Cimex lectularius. 



Schizotrypanum cru^i Chagas (^Trypanosoma) the cause of CHAGAS 

 FEVER, a disease of man in South America, is carried by sucking bugs. 

 The disease has its reservoir in the armadillo and related animals. Chagas 

 and Brumpt have proven that the natural invertebrate hosts are the 

 kissing bugs Triatoma megista Burmeister, T. sordida Stal, T. geniculata 

 Latreille, and T. chagasi, and, undoubtedly also Rhodnhis prolixus Stal. 

 Gonzales-Lugo has obtained experimental transmission with the last 



