Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Sexual Transmission of American Trypanosomes from Males and Females to Naive Mates
Published on: January 27, 2019
THE TRANSMISSION OF THE VIRUS OF MEXICAN TYPHUS FROM RAT TO RAT BY POLYPLAX SPINULOSUS
H Mooser1, M R Castaneda, H Zinsser
1Laboratory of the American Hospital, Mexico City, Mexico, and the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Abstract:
Polyplax spinulosus, the common rat louse, is easily infected with the virus of typhus by feeding on infected rats. As in the case of Pediculus humanus, such feedings are followed by the appearance of large numbers of Rickettsia prowazeki within the gut of the insect. The virus of Mexican typhus can be transmitted from rat to rat by Polyplax spinulosus by methods of feeding simulating natural conditions. It seems, therefore, that this ectoparasite is an important factor in maintaining an endozoic of Mexican typhus among wild rats.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Rabies
Plague
American Trypanosomiasis
Toxoplasmosis
Transmission of Pathogens
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

