The Cockroach as an Experimental Vector of Coxsackie Virus

Abstract

Summary In experiments in which cockroaches, Periplaneta americana, were fed a single meal containing a member of the Coxsackie group of viruses, the results proved that the test roaches excreted daily over a period of as many as 15 days sufficient virus to paralyze and kill test mice. Control experiments and other tests showed that the lethal effect was due to infection by the Coxsackie virus and not from extraneous bacterial or viral infection. The significance of these experiments in relation to the natural transmission and dissemination of the Coxsackie group of viruses remains to be determined.