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Persistence of bacteria during development in flies

I. Basic Possibilities of Survival

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Summary

The results of experiments investigating survival of bacteria during the pupal stage gave the following basic findings.

  1. (1)

    Bacteria are not transmitted in the egg contents, but only on the surface of the eggs.

  2. (2)

    Artificially cultured pathogenic microorganisms and non-pathogenic strains from a natural environment all survive the pupal stage, whether present individually or mixed. Persistence of the following stock strains was demonstrated:Bacillus anthracis, Salmonella schottmül-leri, Shigella sonnei, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Proteus vulgaris, Listeria monocytogenes, Serratia marcescens, Proteus morganii, Salmonella typhimurium andSalmonella typhi. The only one which did not survive was the yeastCryptococcus neoformans. Among bacteria from a natural medium, the following species survived the pupal stage:Proteus vulgaris, bacteria of theProvidentia Group,Escherichia coli, Bacterium paracoli, Staphylococcus aureus, enterococci,Bacillus subtilis andBacillus cereus.

  3. (3)

    Survival ofSalmonella typhi, contained in excreta on which fly larvae were kept, was not demonstrated. The author regards survival of pathogenic microorganisms under natural conditions as a comparatively rare phenomenon.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Medical Faculty, Charles University, Hradec Králové

    R. Radvan

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  1. R. Radvan
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Additional information

The author takes this opportunity of thanking Dr. F. Výmola for identification of the bacteria.

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Radvan, R. Persistence of bacteria during development in flies. Folia Microbiol 5, 50–56 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02930896

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02930896

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