34 



Insects and Disease 



lated infectious diseases occurring in various parts 

 of the world. Occasionally it is introduced into 

 America, but it does not seem to spread here. It 

 has been shown that the disease is communicated 

 from one person to another by means of blood- 

 sucking insects. In Central Africa where the 

 disease is very prevalent a certain common tick 

 (Ornithodoros moubata) (Fig. 18) is known to 

 transmit the disease. This tick lives in the resting 

 places and around the huts of the natives and has 

 habits very similar to the bedbug of other climes, 

 feeding at night and hiding during the day. 

 It attacks both man and beast and is one of the 

 most dreaded of all the African pests. 



Nathan Bank, our foremost authority on ticks, 

 in summing up the evidence against them says : 



"It is therefore evident that all ticks are potentially 

 dangerous. Any tick now commonly infesting some 

 wild animal, may, as its natural host becomes more 

 uncommon, attach itself to some domestic animal. 

 Since most of the hosts of ticks have some blood- 

 parasites, the ticks by changing the host may trans- 

 plant the blood-parasites into the new host producing, 

 under suitable conditions, some disease. Numerous 

 investigators throughout the world are studying this 

 phase of tick-life, and many discoveries will doubtless 

 signalize the coming years." 



