Preliminary Observations on the Relation of Nutrition to Pediculosis of Rats and Chickens

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Abstract
Expts. were conducted to determine the effects of vitamin deficiencies in rats upon the rat louse, Polyplax spinulosa, and malnutrition in chickens upon the body louse, Eomenacanthus stramineus. Rats deficient in vit. A, thiamin, riboflavin, and pantothenic acid maintained a mild pediculosis, whereas rats fed diets deficient in pyridoxine, folic acid, and choline, respectively, were able to rid themselves of an infestation as did the normally fed control rats. Chickens exhibiting a mild malnutrition showed no apparent differences in degree of pediculosis when compared with healthy birds; however, birds with severe malnutrition exhibited a significantly lower degree of pediculosis than normal birds. When the diets were reversed, a tendency toward decreased pediculosis on the normal birds and increased infestation on the deficient birds became evident within 34 days. Birds debeaked by cutting off a portion of the upper labium had a significantly higher degree of pediculosis than their non-de-beaked coop mates when all were feeding on the same diet. It cannot be concluded that these vitamins are the limiting factors in rat pediculosis since it is not known whether lice carry on a normal life cycle when the host is deficient. The data also suggest that ectoparasitism with the body louse is not necessarily an expression of chicken malnutrition.
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