What is the newest in-vitro-method of feeding though a membrane? What type of membrane, thickness, reinforcing elements (if any, what type), what type of blood, a.s.o? Who could give some more practical hints or elaborate on his own experience?
While I have no personal experience of lice rearing I did see lice colonies in a lab in Marseille a couple of months ago. If you are interested I could message you with some email addresses to the people in charge of that lab?
Dear Anders, thank you. Are you referring to Dr. Raoult? And: are you sure that they artifically rear lice (or conventionally?)
No, it was not Dr. Raoult. It was at the University Hospital Institute For Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine. I never saw them feed but I'm pretty sure it was artificial. They had some ingenious apparatus for feeding all their blood feeding arthropods.
thank you again. Then, whom do you propose to contact? wishes sr
so, who is it then? I am still waiting for your suggestion, whom to contact in this matter..... thanks in advance
Hi Sibylle
I assume you have been in touch with John Marshall Clark at UMass. His lab runs what is, as far as I am aware the only long term viable in vitro reared louse colony. There are several publications so to start have a look at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14596275
also
Yoon KS et al. An improved in vitro rearing system for the human head louse allows
the determination of resistance to formulated pediculicides. Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology 86 (2006) 195–202.
We have tried it in our lab and it is immensely time consuming to set up and manage and the attrition rate is monumental in the early stages. Also you need to have a steady supply of consistent blood. Minor changes in blood source, type, etc. seem to have big impacts on attractiveness, engorgement rates, fecundity, and growth of juveniles. In the end we could not commit sufficient resources to it, especially as our audit indicated it was not commercially viable - cheaper and more reliable to collect them from the wild as and when we needed them.
Having said that I'm not aiming to put you off, just showing its not a piece of cake. Incidentally it may be easier starting with lab reared body lice. Now is your opportunity to get some as Robin Todd at i2L, Inc., in Baltimore is winding his rabbit reared colony up in the next two to three months so if you miss those you won't get a second chance.
If we can help in any way let me know otherwise it would be good to hear how you get along.
Ian
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