Handbook of Medical EntomologyRiley, William A. (William Albert)
Science
Handbook of Medical Entomology
Riley, William A. (William Albert)
Insect pests; Insects as carriers of disease; Medical parasitology
6. In a surprisingly large number of cases, it appeared probable that
the children affected had been in the habit of frequenting places where
_Stomoxys_ is particularly abundant, i.e., about stables, barnyards,
etc.
The experiments referred to were carried on during the summer of 1912
and in September Dr. Rosenau announced that the disease was transferred
by the bite of the stable-fly.
A monkey infected by inoculation was exposed to the bites of upwards of
a thousand of the _Stomoxys_ flies daily, by stretching it at full
length and rolling it in a piece of chicken wire, and then placing it on
the floor of the cage in which the flies were confined. The flies fed
freely from the first, as well as later, after paralysis had set in.
Alternating with the inoculated monkey, healthy monkeys were similarly
introduced into the cage at intervals. New monkeys were inoculated to
keep a supply of such infected animals and additional healthy ones were
exposed to the flies, which fed willingly and in considerable numbers on
each occasion. "Thus the flies were given every opportunity to obtain
infection from the monkeys, since the animals were bitten during
practically every stage of the disease from the time of the inoculation
of the virus till their death following the appearance of paralysis. By
the same arrangement the healthy monkeys were likely to be bitten by
flies that had previously fed during the various stages of the disease
on the infected monkeys. The flies had meanwhile enjoyed the opportunity
of incubating the virus for periods varying from the day or two which
usually elapses between consecutive feedings, to the two or three-week
period for which at least some (although a very small percentage) of the
flies lived in the cage."
"In all, twelve apparently healthy monkeys of a small Japan species were
exposed to the flies in the manner described for the infected monkeys.
Some were placed in the cage only once or twice and others a number of
times after varying intervals. These exposures usually lasted for about
half an hour, but were sometimes more protracted. No results were
apparent until two or three weeks after the experiment was well under
way, and then in rather rapid succession six of the animals developed
symptoms of poliomyelitis. In three, the disease appeared in a virulent
form, resulting in death, while the other three experienced transient
tremblings, diarrhœa, partial paralysis and recovery."--Brues, 1913.
Very soon after the announcement of the results of experiments by
Rosenau and Brues, they were apparently conclusively confirmed by
Anderson and Frost (1912), who repeated the experiments, at Washington.
They announced that through the bites of the _Stomoxys_ flies that had
previously fed on infected monkeys, they had succeeded in experimentally
infecting three healthy monkeys.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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