Author Institution: Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State Universit

Genga, U. Edward

Kreier, Julius P.

The Ohio Journal of Science

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188 EDWIN R. SQUIERS AND WARREN A. WISTENDAHL Vol. 76BRIEF NOTETRANSMISSION EXPERIMENTSWITH BAB ESI A MICROTI (GRAYSTRAIN) USING DERM ACEN TORANDERSON I STILES AS A VECTOR.1Interest in Babesia microti has beenstimulated recently by the observation ofa number of Babesia infections in humans(Scholtens et al, 1968; Fitzpatrick et at,1968; Western et al, 1970; Anderson et al,1974). The ticks of the genus Dermacentorare very common in the United Statesand, as the larvae and nymphs of theseticks commonly feed on rodents (Bishoppand Trembley, 1945), we considered themlikely candidates as vectors of Babesiamicroti and we undertook to determine if,in fact, Dermacentor andersoni couldtransmit Babesia microti.The ticks were fed on Golden Syrianhamsters. Feeding was carried out withina chamber constructed from a plastic capwhich had its lip placed against the ham-ster's abdomen and a hole cut in theother end. The cap was held in place withan adhesive tape belly band. The tickswere placed in the chamber through thehole in the cap and then a plastic lid wasplaced over the hole and secured witha water-proof adhesive tape band.!Note received April 13, 1976 (#76-37).Transovarial transmission by Derma-centor andersoni was not observed, whiletransstadial transmission occurred spar-ingly. The hamsters were infested atparasitaemias ranging from 8% to 71%in order to determine if the parasite loadhad any effect in Babesia infectivity toticks, but this factor did not influencetick infectivity. Out of 21 transstadialand 13 transovarial transmission at-tempts, two instances of stage-to-stagetransmission from the nymph to theadult occurred (table 1). Adult tickswhich had fed on infected hamsters asnymphs were placed on clean hamsters 7days after molting and infection wasdetected in the hamsters 4 days afterinfestation.Transmission was not observed ingroups 1 and 3 (table 1). It is possiblethat the ingested parasites, if they in-fected the ticks either did not reach thesalivary glands or the ovaries. There isalso the possibility that the parasites werenot infective for these ticks. In order todetermine which situation occurred, week-old nymphs, fed on infected hamsters aslarvae, were ground in physiological salineand injected intra-muscularly into ahamster. The blood of the hamster wasmonitered for parasites by the Giemsamethod for 1 month, but the hamster didnot develop babesiosis. Extracts of week-old eggs and larvae from ticks which hadfed on infected hamsters as adults wereNo. 4 TRANSMISSION OF BABERIA 189TABLE 1Attempts of transstadial (Groups 1 and 2) and transovarial{Group 3) transmission of Babesia microti (Gray Strain) bylarval (Group 1), nymphal (Group 2) and adult ticks (Group 3)fed on infected hamsters.Group123Feedingon infected -hamstersLarvaeNymphsAdultsFeeding onuninfected hamstersNo. ofInstar hamstersNymphsAdultsAdultsLarvaeLarvaeNymphs457594No. of- transmissions*002000*Transmission was indicated by babcsiosis in cleanhamsters on which adult ticks fed.also prepared and injected into hamsters.The hamster which received the groundlarvae did not develop the disease duringa month of observation. The hamsterwhich received the ground eggs died in 3days apparently from egg toxicity (Stein-haus, 1942).Since the two instances of transstadialtransmission occurred between nymphsand adults, and as Dermacentor ander-soni is a three-host tick, the adults ofwhich usually infest large animals, it isprobable that D. andersoni is not an im-portant vector for the transmission ofBabesia microti among rodents. As theadults of this tick often feed on humans,it is possible that this tick may be avector for the transmission of rodentbabesiosis to humans. Epidemiologicaland laboratory work by Andrew Spielman(Dept. of Tropical Health, HarvardSchool of Public Health, Boston) onNantucket Island, Massachusetts indi-cates that the major vector there forBabesia microti is Ixodes scapular is (Per-sonal Communication).—U. EDWARDGENGA AND JULIUS P. KREIER.Department of Microbiology, The OhioState University, Columbus, Ohio 43210.LITERATURE CITEDAnderson, A. E., P. B. Cassady and G. R.Healy. 1974. Babesiosis in man: Sixth docu-mented case. Amer. J. Clin. Path. 62: 612-618.Bishopp, F. C. and H. L. Trembley. 1945.Distribution and hosts of certain NorthAmerican ticks. J. Parasitol. 31: 1-56.Fitzpatrick, J., C. Kennedy, M. McGeon, D.Oreopoulos, J. Robertson and M. Sayannuna.1968. Human case of piroplasmosis (babesio-sis). Nature 217: 861-862.Scholtens, R., E. Graff, G. R. Healy and N.Gleason. 1968. A case of human babesiosisin a man in the United States. Amer. ].Trop. Med. Hyg. 17: 810-813.Steinhaus, E. A. 1942. Note on a toxic prin-cipal in eggs of the tick Dermacentor ander-soni Stiles. Pub. Health Rep. 57: 1310-1312.Western, G. W., G. Benson, N. Gleason, G. R.Healy and M. Schultz. 1970. Babesiosisin a Massachusetts resident. New Eng. J.Med. 283: 854-856.

Brief Note Transmission Experiments with Babesia Microti (Gray Strain) Using Dermacentor Andersoni Stiles as a Vector

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Brief Note Transmission Experiments with Babesia Microti (Gray Strain) Using Dermacentor Andersoni Stiles as a Vector

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