Immunological Aspects of Bovine Trypanosomiasis

Abstract

BROWN and BROWN (1940) cyclically passaged 3 strains of Trypanosoma brucei through different batches of Glossina morsitans; two were isolated from horses in Ghana and one from a dog in Uganda. Cyclically transmitted popUlations were isolated in rats from each of these strains. Using the red cell adhesion test (DUKE and WALLACE, 1930), they showed that within a single strain all the cyclically transmitted populations were serologically similar. This important work was not repeated until GRAY (1965) demonstrated that cyclically transmitted derivatives of a strain of T. brucei subgroup have at least one antigen in common, termed 'the basic strain antigen'. On this finding, field isolations of T. brucei subgroup have been typed serologically (GRAY, 1966). In this paper we describe an attempt to demonstrate a 'basic strain antigen' in cyclically transmitted derivatives of a strain of T. congolense.