Bacterial and protozoan diseases of insects: Entomology dissertation

Abstract

The study of insect diseases is a very exacting one. The disease oust be adequately identified and documented. The causative agent must not be confused with secondary invaders of the dead insect or with naturally recurring symbionts .Also culture of the pathogen may be impossible, limiting the chance of detailed study - thus some early reports of insect diseases may just as well be invalid because of inadequate description or preservation of the causative agent. Recent techniques of continuous culture in microbiology and the setting up of micro-biological museums where continuous cultures are kept in the condition they were discovered , will doubtless help insect pathology . ln this project bacterial diseases will be dealt with first followed by protozoan diseases .