EXPERIMENTAL TRANSMISSION OF MURINE MALARIA BY CANNIBALISM ON MICE INFECTED BY PLASMODIUM-BERGHEI-YOELII

To demonstrate the existence of malaria transmission by cannibalism, s ix experiments were conducted. A total of 108 young male CD1 mice were kept unfed for about 12h and then each experimental mouse, caged sepa rately, was offered overnight with the corpse of a freshly sacrificed mouse infected with Plasmodium berghei yoelii, while each of the contr ol mice was offered with the corpse of a clean mouse. All mice were su bjected to detection of malaria infection by blood smears stained with giemsa. Mice fed with corpses of infected mice acquired the infection in 35% of cases. No control mice acquired the infection. The approxim ate prepatency of infection ranged from 1 to 3 weeks. It is demonstrat ed, in a rodent model, that malaria infection may be transmitted among vertebrate hosts of the same species in absence of mosquitos, by eati ng flesh and organs of malaria infected animals.