Experimental preservation of plague bacilli on the surfaces and in the intestinal tract of the red domestic ant (Monomorium pharaonis)
Alekseev, A.N.; Bibikova, V.A.; Brikman, L.I.; Kantarbaeva, Z.K.
Meditsinskaia Parazitologiia i Parazitarnye Bolezni 41(2): 237-239
1972
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-8326 PMID: 5042568 Document Number: 48015
The possibility of survival and mechanical transmission of Pasteurella pestis on the vestiture and mouth parts of Monomorium pharaonis L. has been demonstrated experimentally. Viable microbes were retained on the surface of ants for 48 h after they had been in brief contact with the carcass or viscera of animals that had died of plague. Ants that were allowed to feed on such tissues retained viable microbes in the alimentary canal for three days.