ASCARIDS
CLASS: SECERNENTEA
ORDER: ASCARIDIDA
- CHARACTERISTIC LIPS AND EGGS
- VERTEBRATE PARASITES
CLASS: SECERNENTEA
ORDER: ASCARIDIDA
FAMILY: ASCARIDIDAE
Ascaris lumbricoides (humans)
FAMILY: TOXOCARIDAE
- Toxocara canis (dogs and cats)
- Toxascaris leonina (dogs and cats)
- Toxocara cati (cats)
Ascaris lumbricoides:
Characteristics:.
Historical:
- Written about by ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians.
- Closely related to a species in pigs Ascaris suum. May have originally been the same species.
Host: humans
Distribution: Worldwide
Life Cycle:
Symptoms/Pathogenicity:
- None if only a few adults in intestine.
- Large numbers compete for food and cause intestinal discomfort.
- Migrating juveniles may cause inflammation in various organs.
- Adults may wander upstream or down to various organs, or rupture the intestinal tract.
Management:
- Sanitation.
- Anthelmintics (drugs).
- Diagnosis by finding eggs in fecal smears.
Importance: 1 billion persons (almost one-fourth of the world population is infected).
DOG AND CAT ASCARIDS
Toxocara canis (dogs and cats)
Toxascaris leonina (dogs and cats)
Toxocara cati (cats)
Characteristics: Prominent cervical alae.
Distribution: Worldwide
Life Cycle:
- Similar to human ascarids but with many alternative pathways.
- May utilize paratenic hosts.
- Many puppies are born infected with T. canis.
T. canis and T. cati may cause visceral juvenile migrans(photo)in children. T. leonina does not.
Management:
- Sanitation.
- Anthelmintic treatment of puppies.
ANISAKIASIS
Anisakis simplex (herring worm)
- Pseudoterranova (Phocanema, Terranova) decipiens (cod or seal worm)
- Contracaecum spp.
- Hysterothylacium (Thynnascaris) spp
SELECTED WWW SITES:
http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/parasit/ascar/ascar_2.html
http://martin.parasitology.mcgill.ca/jimspage/biol/ascaris.htm
http://medocs.ucdavis.edu/micro/parasite/Ascaris.htm
http://jeffline.tju.edu/CWIS/OAC/microweb/parasitology/worms/intestinal3.html
http://www.cdfound.to.it/asc1.htm
http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/parasit/swine/swine_6.html
http://martin.parasitology.mcgill.ca/jimspage/biol/toxocara.htm
http://jeffline.tju.edu/CWIS/OAC/microweb/parasitology/worms/intestinal6.html
http://www.cdfound.to.it/ani1.htm
http://martin.parasitology.mcgill.ca/jimspage/anisakis.htm
INDEX TO LECTURE NOTES
