The Criminal Flea

Dr. M. Bazin and Professor Henry Vincent, of Paris, presented to the French Academy of Sciences data from which they deduce that cancer may be communicated to human beings by fleas from the bodies of cats and dogs. They claim that the disease has been transmitted from cancerous animals to healthy ones, simply by transferring fleas, and that in a village of Normandy, where the dogs and cats have malignant tumors and are infested by fleas, 8 out of 14 deaths in the last 18 years have been due to cancer. They draw the conclusion that cancer is caused by an undiscovered germ, which incubates best in dog and cat fleas. The theory is discredited by American cancer authorities, who say that there is no scientific evidence for transmission of cancer by insect bite.