VI. VIRUSES ASSOCIATED WITH COCKROACHES

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Annotations on some of the following observations may be found in Roth and Willis (1957a). Use of asterisk is explained in footnote 3, page 4.

POLIOMYELITIS VIRUSES

* Lansing strain

Experimental vectors.Blattella germanica, U.S.A. (Hurlbutt, 1949, 1950).

Periplaneta americana, U.S.A. (Hsiang et al., 1952).

* Brunhilde type, Minnesota and Mahoney strains

Experimental vectors.Periplaneta americana, U.S.A. (Fischer and Syverton, 1951; Syverton et al., 1952).

* Columbia SK virus

Experimental vectors.Periplaneta americana, Great Britain? (Findlay and Howard, 1951): Results with Blattella germanica were negative.

* Four unspecified strains

Natural vectors.Blattella germanica and/or Blattella vaga, Periplaneta americana and/or Periplaneta brunnea, and Supella supellectilium, U.S.A. (Syverton et al., 1952; Dow, 1955; Dow in Roth and Willis, 1957a).

OTHER VIRUSES

* Coxsackie viruses

Experimental vectors.Periplaneta americana, U.S.A. (Fischer and Syverton, 1951a, 1957): Recently Fischer and Syverton (1957) found that after feeding a single meal of Coxsackie virus to Periplaneta americana, the gastrointestinal tracts of the insects, which were removed at 5-day intervals up to 20 days, contained sufficient virus to paralyze and kill test mice. Cockroach salivary glands, removed 5 days after the insects had fed, contained the virus which caused paralysis and death in test mice; mice were also infected by virus obtained from salivary glands removed from the insects 10 and 20 days after the cockroaches had fed once on the virus. The virus was also isolated from the cockroaches' feces and rarely from the fat bodies and reproductive organs. Fischer and Syverton concluded that it is possible that cockroaches could acquire the virus, by feeding on mammalian excreta, maintain it for a period of time, and transmit it by contamination of food. The virus could also be transmitted through the feces of wild mice if the mice happened to feed on virus-infected cockroaches.

* Mouse encephalomyelitis virus

Experimental vectors.Periplaneta americana, U.S.A. (Syverton and Fischer, 1950).

* Yellow-fever virus

Experimental vectors.Blattella germanica, Great Britain? (Findlay and MacCallum, 1939).


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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