Investigation on Mediterranean kala azar X—A note on Trypanosoma platydactyli and Leishmania tarentolæ

Abstract

The presence of Trypanosoma platydactyli was previously recorded in the gecko Tarentola mauretanica from Catania (Adler an Theodor (1931)), where 17 out of 49 specimens were found infected. This trypanosome was also found in Malta during 1931 and 1932 in 6 out of 9 geckoes examined. It was found that it is not necessary to examine geckoes by culture from the heart's blood, for a diagnosis can be established in three days by feeding Phlebotomus parroti or even P. papatasii on a gecko. Forty out of 43 P. parroti which fed on nine infected geckoes become infected with the trypanosome. The flagellates adopt an anterior position and reach up to the œsophagus in three to four days. In no case was a probocis infection found during an observation period of nine days and not a single instance of infection in the hindgut was found. In one instance a gecko apparently infected itself by swallowing an infected P. parroti , but infection by bite is not excluded.