Angewandte Parasitologie最新文献

The occurrence of E. granulosus and E. multilocularis in the region of Thuringia is reported. Parasitological investigations showed 1421 E. granulosus metacestodes, 91.7% of them in lungs and 1.3% in livers of cattle, 6% in lungs and 1% in livers of pigs; that means an infestation rate at slaughter of 0.1%-0.3% in cattle and 0.001-0.004% or less in pigs resp. 90.1% of the hydatid cysts proved to be fertile even in a size of 1.5 cm diameter. Adult E. granulosus was found post mortem in 2 of 324 dogs. In the period from 1985 to 1988, only 11 dogs were infested with E. granulosus as found at autopsy all over the GDR. Out of 23,325 faecal samples 270 samples (1.2%) were positive for eggs of Taenia spp. The animals with egg-shedding were treated as infected with Echinococcus. In experimental infections of 12 Beagles the prepatent period ranged from the minimum of 34 days up to the maximum of 40 days. The detected E. granulosus strain could be identified as a dog-cattle strain. The microscopical examination of the intestine of 805 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) revealed the presence of E. multilocularis in 12.7% of the animals. Thuringia is one of the endemic distribution area of E. multilocularis in Central Europe. In the west of Thuringia 25% of the foxes were found with E. multilocularis, in the remaining area (lowlands) only 3.3%. In some of mountainous areas, 40% of the foxes were infected with E. multilocularis. 2 cats of 58 from this region were infected with E. multilocularis.

Individuals suffering from dracontiasis from Igwun river basin area of Imo State Nigeria were randomly chosen, examined and interviewed between December 1988 and March 1989 with a view to ascertain some of the behavioural aspects that could be of help in the control/eradication of this disease as well as to ascertain whether local medication was of any chemotherapeutic significance. Of 100 guinea-worm patients males were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in number (63.0%). In the age-related distribution, children less than 10 years old and the members of the villages more than 60 years old accounted for only 5.0% of the patients whilst those in their productive years (10-60 year old) accounted for 95.0%. Only 10.5% of the respondents associated guinea-worm infection with the drinking of "polluted" water while most believed it was a familial trait (36.8%) or implicated their enemies (35.1%). As a result medications against the disease were mainly directed towards consulting the oracle and herbalists, and appeasing the gods. Most (98.0%) of them kept their dressing dry by refraining from immersing them in water. The concomitant behavioural aspects of these results are discussed in relation to their uses in the control/eradication of guinea-worm.

Porcine stored blood has been used in the in vitro feeding of the soft tick Ornithodoros moubata through a Parafilm membrane. The efficiency of the feeding decreased after storage of 5 weeks by -20 degrees C. Through addition of 10(-3) M ATP/l the feeding results with frozen blood for duration of storage up to 200 days well agreed with the results of feeding tests with fresh porcine blood: The nymphs (N)1-3 fed the 4-5fold, the N4-6 the 2.7fold and the adults (A) the 1.9fold of their body weight. The feeding rate was 98.6% (N1-3); 92.7% (N4-5) and 81.9% (A). The mortality rate was under 10%. Females laid 130 eggs after blood meal.

A pure strain of Eimeria mitis was obtained from a crude field isolate by single oocyst inoculation of chicken. The strain was identified as Eimeria mitis by the morphology of the oocysts. Sporulated oocysts measured 16.1 +/- 2.1 microns in length and 13.6 +/- 1.0 microns in width. The shape index was 1.18. The prepatent period was 4 days and patency lasted 12 to 13 days. The highest number of oocysts was shed at day 6 after infection of chicken with 1 x 10(4), 5 x 10(4), or 1 x 10(5) oocysts and at day 8 after infection with 5 x 10(5) oocysts. A single infection of chicken with 1 x 10(4), 5 x 10(4), 1 x 10(5), or 5 x 10(5) oocysts resulted in reproduction values of 1:118,662, 1:15,720, 1:9,977 and 1:731, respectively.

Urine and faecal samples were obtained from 1,517 people in Fier, a typical rural village in Plateau State, Nigeria, for a parasitological survey among the population. 643 (42.39%) persons were found to be infected with altogether 9 helminths, namely: Ascaris lumbricoides, hookworm, Taenia sp., Trichuris trichiura, Enterobius vermicularis, Schistosoma mansoni, S. haematobium, Hymenolepis nana and Strongyloides stercoralis. Age and religion as opposed to sex, type of sewage system, and type of housing had a significant effect (P < 0.05) on the prevalence rates of the helminths in the population. Snail vector survey for schistosomatosis revealed the presence of Bulinus (Bulinus) truncatus, Bulinus (Physopsis) globosus and Biomphalaria pfeifferi with the latter being the most common with brevifurcate cercariae, and xiphidiocercariae being the most common cercariae harboured by the snails.

The aim of this study was to find optimal conditions for the membrane feeding technique to obtain maximum infection rates of mosquitoes with Plasmodium yoelii nigeriensis. The results show that the malaria parasite Plasmodium yoelii nigeriensis is most infective to Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes on day 3 of the infection in the mice, 1 day before the peak of parasitaemia. The mortality rate of the mosquitoes fed on mice on day 3 after infection was the highest as compared to mosquitoes fed on other days after infection. Gametocytes from mice 3 days after infection were fed to mosquitoes by three different membrane feeding methods. The results indicate that feeding during the first 10 min after blood collection gave the highest infection rates. Keeping the blood meal at a pH of 7.2 yields higher infection rates than keeping it at pH of 8.5. Stirring of the blood and supplying it with CO2 is not necessary when feeding of the mosquitoes is completed within the first 10 min after collection of the blood.

Between November, 1988 and April, 1991, parasitological and symptomatological methods of diagnosis were used to survey the prevalence of mansonellosis among the Ibo population in Abia and Imo States of Nigeria. 1,197 or 28.6% of the 4,183 persons examined were positive for microfilariae of Mansonella perstans. The prevalence of mansonellosis was significantly higher (P < 0.05) among rural dwellers (34.6%) than among urban dwellers (22.5%), in males (30.8%) than in females (26.3%), in farmers (59.8%) and palm wine tappers (46.1%) than in civil servants (7.6%), and in persons 21 years of age and above (36.2%) than in those in the first two decades of life (9.4%). Clinical signs observed in most infected persons include body itching, joint and back pains, occasional giddiness and elephantoid scrotum. Body itching was the most commonly observed clinical sign (14.7%), followed by joint pains (12.41%) with elephantoid scrotum (3.5%) as the least. The public health implication of the findings is discussed.

The developmental velocity of Wucheria bancrofti larvae was investigated in mosquito strains with different susceptibility to this filarial species. High susceptibility of the vector strains favoured fast filarial development, e.g. between 17.1 and 25.9% of all discovered larvae on day 13 p.i. had already migrated to the head and mouth parts of the more and partly even highly susceptible Anopheles gambiae, Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti, respectively, whereas between 0 and 3.4% infective larvae had reached the head in the less susceptible Culex strains. On day 15 p.i. in all mosquito strains the majority of the larvae had reached infectivity.

The in-vivo-test of Plasmodium drug resistance is one of the essential basic controls, assisting therapeutic measures in tropical malaria. An initial in-vitro-check up of drugs provided for antimalarial therapy is another useful help to the clinician. Even when manufactured WHO test kits are not available, the analysis of drug resistance can be performed under simple working conditions. Its application is demonstrated in a patients history.

Sera from patients with schistosomiasis (Schistosoma mansoni or S. haematobium) were examined for the presence of parasite specific antibodies (total antibodies), specific IgE and IgG4 antibodies by means fo ELISA technique using antigens prepared from adult worms of S. mansoni. Individuals from tropical countries who had no schistosomiasis and blood donors from Germany were studied for comparison. Significantly higher levels of specific antibodies were given by sera from patients with schistosomiasis than by controls in the tests for total antibodies, IgE and IgG4. The use of these results in diagnosis is compared and assessed with microscopic-parasitological methods.