Transmission experiments with hepatitis B surface antigen and the common bedbug (Cimex lectularius L)
Jupp, P.G.; McElligott, S.E.
South African Medical Journal 56(2): 54-57
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0256-9574 PMID: 573506 Document Number: 142860
Blood that was positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was fed to a colony of Cimex lectularius L. in a series of 5 experiments in South Africa. Antigen persisted in the bugs for at least 7.5 weeks, but was undetectable after 18 weeks. Trans-stadial transmission was demonstrated through 1 moult only, and transovarial transmission did not occur. Antigen was successfully transmitted by adult bugs into 3 of 35 canisters of HBsAg-negative blood. Antibody to HBsAg was detected in the serum from a rabbit on which HBsAg-positive adult bugs had fed, as well as in the serum of 2 of 10 guinea-pigs on which HBsAg-positive fourth- and fifth-instar nymphs had fed. The results as a whole indicate that biological multiplication and biological transmission do not occur in C. lectularius, but mechanical transmission has been demonstrated. This is probably an important means of transmission of the virus in man in South Africa.