Abstract
The present investigation was undertaken in order to check on the previous reports in which attempts were made to infect rats and mice with Endameba dysenteriae and also to infect these rodents with the other common intestinal amebae of man.
Infections of five species of human intestinal amebae, Endameba dysenteriae, Endameba coli, Councilmania lafleuri, Endolimax nana, and Iodameba büttschli have been experimentally transferred to rats by feeding them human feces containing cysts of these amebae. Mice have been experimentally infected with Councilmania lafleuri and Endameba dysenteriae.
A greater percentage of young amebae-free animals than of old amebae-free animals or of young animals known to possess an infection of amebae common to the rat and mouse have become infected with these five amebae common to man.
Infections of E. dystenteriae, E. coli, and C. lafleuri have been experimentally transferred from rats harboring experimental infections of these amebae to other young amebae-free rats by feeding them the feces of the infected rats.
The amebae transferred from man to the rodent host have, in every case presented no apparent racial or morphological change during the period of the experiment. The data acquired in this investigation give interesting information on the questions of (1) morphological constancy of parasitic Protozoa, (2) host specificity of parasite, (3) the possibility of rodents acting as carriers of amebiasis.
Infections of E. dysenteriae in rats and mice apparently assumes a chronic form rather than an acute form as is reported in kittens.
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