Leucocytozoon andrewsi n. sp., from Chickens Observed in a Survey of Blood Parasites in Domestic Animals in South Carolina

Abstract

This survey was conducted in an experimental area in Clarendon County, South Carolina, where several types of data concerned with human malaria have been collected for a number of years. Despite the continued absence of any blood-positive cases of human malaria in the area for the 2 years since February 1949, wild-caught anophelines, upon dissection, are still found with oocysts and sporozoites. Both Anopheles quadrimaculatus and Anopheles crucians are involved. This survey was one of the investigations undertaken to locate the source of the malaria-like infections in the mosquitoes. Since practically all the anophelines for dissection are collected in stables and chicken houses, beneath dwellings, and about other farm buildings, domestic animals logically seemed to be possible hosts. From Asia there are some reports in the literature of blood parasites belonging to the genus Leucocytozoon that were found in the domestic chicken. However, no records of such organisms occurring in this host outside the Eastern Hemisphere were located.