title: The role of coccoid ultrafine forms of mycobacteria in the transmission of the mycobacterial infection.
abstract: The present study is devoted to the variability of the mycobacterial population in nature by transformation of typical mycobacteria into ultrafine forms with a dense cellular membrane in the organism of mosquitos and of their larvae. Mosquitos of the genus Aedes are known to be mechanical carriers of bacterial infections. Most of the infectious diseases are characteristic of rural districts and have the character of natural foci. An attempt has been made to determine the possibility of the transmission of the mycobacterial infection through the stings of bloodsucking mosquitos of the genus Aedes. It is shown that transmission of the mycobacterial infection is possible through the stage of coccoid ultrafine mycobacteria detected in the mosquito larvae of different stages. The reversion of the coccoid forms of mycobacteria into the typical rod-shaped ones is possible in separate cases and occurs at later stages of the mosquito larvae development. The study may be of scientific and practical interest both in medicine and agricultural practice.
authors.affiliation: Central Tuberculosis Research Institute, Ministry of Health, Moscow, USSR.
authors.forename: V I
authors.initials: VI
authors.lastname: Golyshevskaya
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000382:microbiology; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000382:microbiology; D007814:Larva / Q000382:microbiology; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000635:transmission*; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009170:Nontuberculous Mycobacteria / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000635:transmission*