Author(s): Blow JA; Turell MJ; Silverman AL; Walker ED

Title: Stercorarial shedding and transtadial transmission of hepatitis B virus by common bed bugs (Hemiptera : Cimicidae)

Source: JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY 38 (5): 694-700

Date: 2001 SEP

Document Type: Journal : Article

DOI:  

Language: English

LCR: 11   CR: 30   LCS: 3   GCS: 14

Comment:  

Address: Michigan State Univ, Dept Entomol, E Lansing, MI 48824 USA.

Reprint: Blow, JA, USA, Med Res Inst Infect Dis, Div Virol, Dept Vector
Assessment, 1425 Porter St, Ft Detrick, MD 21702 USA.

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Abstract: Transtadial persistence and stercorarial shedding of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in common bed bugs, Cimex lectularius L., was studied by using experimental infectious blood feedings, infectious intrathoracic inoculations, and virus detection by polymerase chain reaction and Southern hybridization. Results showed that HBV persisted after an infectious blood meal in bed bug bodies for up to 35 d after the infectious blood meal. It was passed transtadially through one molt regardless of instar, was shed in fecal droplets for up to 35 d after the infectious blood meal, but was not passed transovarially. In bugs inoculated intrathoracically, HBV was detected for 21 d postinoculation. Previous studies detected the hepatitis B surface antigen found on both infectious and noninfectious particles in bed bugs. In this study, the presence of nucleic acids amplified from a conserved core region of the viral genome in bodies and feces of C. lectularius suggests that the HBV virus may he mechanically transmitted in feces or when bugs are crushed, during feeding.