Note on the Behaviour of Spirochaetae in Acanthia lectularia

Abstract

A popular belief prevails in Russia that the bug Acanthia lectularia plays a part in the spread of relapsing fever. Flügge (1891) however appears to have been the first scientific writer to suppose that vermin might spread the disease. This view was also held by Tictin (1897) who considered that man may become infected by (a) being bitten by bugs which had previously fed on blood containing Spirochaeta obermeieri, or (b) by his crushing such bugs and infecting himself with the spirochaetes through lesions in the skin induced by scratching. Tictin injected the gut-contents of infected bugs which had recently fed on a relapsing fever patient into monkeys and infected them. When the bugs were crushed 48 hours after feeding on infected blood their contents did not produce the disease in monkeys.