Canine leishmaniasis is endemic in the Mediterranean area, with a high percentage of infected asymptomatic animals. This paper suggests that nitric oxide released by dog macrophages is involved in the long-term protection against natural Leishmania infection. Image: Dog macrophage engulfing Leishmania amastigotes (Giemsa stain X 1000).
The effect of irradiation on the incidence of multiple insemination in a laboratory strain of Anopheles arabiensis is described. Multiple insemination was studied by labelling semen with different stable isotopes. Image: Spermatozoa inside the testes of An. arabiensis.
Tick-repelling efficacy of different topical formulations was compared by laboratory screening and in humans. By reducing the human-vector contact, repellents minimise the risk of acquiring tick-borne infections. Image: Nymphal tick climbing from the tip of a glass rod to the attractant.
Biochemical and cDNA profiling of peptidases in the gut of the tick Ixodes ricinus demonstrated the presence of cathepsins B, L, C, D and asparaginyl endopeptidase; this proves that blood digestion in ticks is based on an evolutionary older network of cysteine/aspartic peptidases similar to blood-flukes but different from insect blood-feeders. Image:Digestive cells in the gut of a partially engorged tick Ixodes ricinus; the cross-section of a tick gut caecum was stained with toluidine blue.
“What bugged the dinosaurs?” examines relationships that occurred between dinosaurs and insects during the Cretaceous. It emphasizes blood-sucking insects that could have carried pathogens to dinosaurs. The authors feel that the demise of the dinosaurs was the result of a confluence of unrelated biotic and abiotic events, with disease playing an important role. Image: A biting midge belonging to the genus Protoculicoides in 100 million year old Burmese amber. These were vectors of Paleohaemoproteus malaria in the Cretaceous
