The species of the genus Ancylostoma (Dubini, 1848) reported as parasites of the human intestine are A. duodenale, A. braziliense, and occasionally A. caninum and A. malayanum. “Creeping eruption ” is considered to be a cutaneous helminthiasis produced by larvae of an ancylostome that American authors accepted as A. braziliense. As a result of detailed studies of the parasite by Lane (1922), Darling (1924) and Schwartz (1927), the majority of parasitologists now treat A. ceylanicum as a synonym of A. braziliense, contrary to the opinions of de Faria (1914,1916) who described A. braziliense, and Looss (1914) who described A. ceylanicum. The solution of the problem is not only of systematic but also of epidemiological importance because de Faria (1914) expressed the opinion that A. braziliense is not pathogenic for man. In the present enquiry the writer has been able to demonstrate that A. braziliense and A. ceylanicum are two different species; and for this reason it is considered of interest to summarise the original descriptions of the two nematodes and the existing opinions concerning this problem.

Diplozoon homoion gracile from the southern barbel (Barbus meridionalis) displays an egg-laying and an egg hatching rhythm, the latter being more clearly defined. Egg laying continues both day and night but significantly more eggs are laid at night. The oncomiracidia hatch at dusk. If parasite eggs are eaten by the host they pass through the gut undamaged and hatch normally.

Observations on the course of Hymenolepis nana infection in immunosuppressed mice are presented. Treatment of the host with hydrocortisone acetate caused superinfection of the bowel with worms and the development of normal cysticercoids in the mesenteric lymph node and liver. Natural infection of mice deprived of their T-cells by pre-adult thymectomy and administration of antithymocyte serum resulted in superinfection and widespread metastasis of aberrant cysticercoids that were greatly enlarged and without scolices, causing death after about five months. The significance of these findings and their possible relevance to human infection with H. nana are discussed.

There is a paucity of information on hookworm species in humans, domestic animals and wildlife in southern Africa. Our study aimed to identify hookworm species from stray dogs, humans, and selected wildlife from South Africa. A total of 356 faecal samples were screened for the presence of hookworm-like eggs and subsequently coproculture from the positive samples was carried out to obtain larvae. Hookworm-like eggs were detected in 23.03% (82/356) of samples. Of these samples, 78/296 were from dogs, 3/50 from humans and 1/10 from wildlife. DNA was then isolated from the larvae of 55 positive samples, which were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR), polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and sequencing of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) and 5.8S rRNA region. Presence of Ancylostoma caninum, A. braziliense and A. ceylanicum-like species was recorded in stray dogs and A. caninum was recorded in wildlife and humans, using PCR-RFLP. Although PCR-RFLP results pointed to the presence of A. ceylanicum, we did not get a sequence that matched with A. ceylanicum from GenBank. This may have been due to the low proportion of A. ceylanicum larvae in our samples. Twenty-two of the 27 positive amplicons from stray dogs matched with A. caninum, three with A. braziliense and two had mixed infections of A. braziliense and A. caninum. Sequences from a lion and three humans matched with A. caninum. This is the first confirmation of a patent A. caninum infection in humans as evidenced by the presence of eggs in faeces, with the subsequent larvae from coproculture being identified as A. caninum.

1. The filarial worm Brugia patei was brought to London from East Africa in the larval stage developing in Mansonia mosquitoes. Subsequent transmission to domestic cats was possible in London through a laboratory colony of Mansonia uniformis and the worm was very infective to this species of mosquito. The worm was much less infective to Aedes togoi and Anopheles gambiae.

2. Subsequent passage of the worm through Aedes togoi has increased its infectivity to this species of mosquito. The infection rate has risen from 43·6% in females of A. togoi fed on the cat original- ly infected by larvae from Mansonia mosquitoes, to 59·2% in females fed on a cat containing the first generation of worms to pass through A. togoi, to 79·1% in females fed on cats containing the second generation of worms to pass through A. togoi, to 86·7% in females fed on cats containing the third generation of worms to pass through A. togoi, to 89·8% in females fed on cats containing the fourth generation of worms to pass through A. togoi.

3. The distributions of infective stage larvae in female mosquitoes were negative binomial distributions. These were related to the distributions of microfilarial intake immediately after infection which were also negative binomial. From one generation of worms passed through the new mosquito host to the next the mean and the k value of the negative binomial of the infective stage larvae approached the same parameters for the distribution of microfilarial intake. By the fourth generation of worms passed through A. togoi the distributions of microfilarial intake and infective stage larvae developing in A. togoi were similar, suggesting close adaptation to the new mosquito host. A similar relation between these distributions was found originally in Mansonia. There were however considerable differences in these distributions between the two species of mosquito.

4. The experiment extended over a period of 6 years. The change in infectivity did not appear to be related to the microfilarial density, age of infection, or sex, in the mammalian host. Neither could it be related to the genetics of susceptibility in the mosquito, nor to mosquito culture techniques, nor to mosquito mortality.

5. It is concluded that the observed change in infectivity is best explained by a change in adaptation of the worm to the new intermediate host by selection within the mosquito of those microfilariae adapted to it. No major change in infectivity to the original intermediate host, Mansonia, was found during the experiment.

6. These findings are examined with reference to changes in adaptation to mosquito hosts in the history of Bancroftian filariasis.

In field experiments, conducted on parasite-free grass plots in two consecutive summers, artificially prepared cow pats containing Cooperia oncophora eggs were inoculated with the nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora. Numbers of infective C. oncophora larvae isolated from the pats as well as from the surrounding herbage were subject to an approximately teh-fold reduction as compared with numbers in fungus-free pats and herbage surrounding these. This reduction was undoubtedly a result of entrapment of the parasite larvae within the faecal pats.

P-glycoproteins (P-gps) are proteins that function as efflux pumps, removing lipophilic xenobiotic compounds from cells. There is evidence that P-gps play a role in the resistance of parasitic nematodes to anthelmintic drugs such as benzimidazoles and macrocyclic lactones. As anthelmintic resistance becomes more common, it is important to identify candidate resistance genes with the aim of understanding the molecular basis of resistance, and of developing assays to detect these resistance-associated changes. We identified several sequences from the genome of the parasite Haemonchus contortus with convincing homology to the known P-gp coding genes of the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Nine of these sequences were successfully amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and shown to be most similar to the C. elegans sequences for pgp-1, pgp-2, pgp-3, pgp-4, pgp-9, pgp-10, pgp-11, pgp-12 and pgp-14. These partial P-gp sequences from H. contortus were used to design and optimize a quantitative real-time PCR assay to investigate potential changes in the expression levels of P-gp transcripts associated with drug resistance. No significant changes in P-gp mRNA expression levels were found in a rapidly selected ivermectin-resistant parasite isolate compared to its drug-sensitive parent, but the assay has the potential to be used on other isolates in the future to further investigate resistance-associated changes in P-gp gene expression.

Hookworm infection stands out for its worldwide distribution and for its veterinary and public health relevance. Based on copromicroscopic examinations and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the ITS1–5.8S–ITS2 region, we assessed, respectively, the prevalence of intestinal parasites and the identification of canine hookworm species in faeces recovered from 278 dogs living in households of an inland municipality of São Paulo State, Brazil. Intestinal parasites were found in 67.3% of dogs and hookworm infection was found at the highest prevalence rate (56.6%), followed by Toxocara canis (11.9%), Isospora spp. (11.9%), Giardia spp. (5.8%), Sarcocystis spp. (4.0%), ‘Hammondia-like’ (1.4%), Dipylidium caninum (1.1%) and Trichuris vulpis (0.7%). Of 158 samples positive for hookworm eggs, 106 (67.1%) were amplified by PCR and, of those, 88 (55.7%) were successfully sequenced for species identification. Single infections with Ancylostoma caninum and Ancylostoma braziliense were recorded in 61.4% and 12.5%, respectively, and mixed infections were found in 26.1%. The nucleotide sequences of both species showed high identity rates (98–100%) when compared with reference sequences. Although A. caninum was the most prevalent hookworm in the dogs assessed, the occurrence of both A. caninum and A. braziliense in single and/or mixed infections poses a potential risk for the local population in a low-income area, especially children, to acquire cutaneous larva migrans (CLM).

The influence of habitat structure on helminth communities of three sigomdontinae rodent species (Akodon cursor, A. montensis and Oligoryzomys nigripes) was investigated in forest fragments within an agricultural landscape in south-eastern Brazil. This is a pionner study correlating the occurrence of helminth species of rodent hosts with microhabitat characteristics. Rodents were collected from 12 fragments and in a continuous conserved area. Up to 13 nematode, three cestode and two trematode species were identified, and habitat fragmentation was found to have more influence on the helminth composition of O. nigripes compared to the other two rodent species. Fragmentation appeared to limit the development of some helminths’ life cycles, e.g. with some species such as Trichofreitasia lenti, Protospirura numidica, Cysticercus fasciolaris and Avellaria sp., occurring mostly in areas with less anthropic impact. However, fragmentation did not seem to affect the life cycles of other dominant helminths, such as the trematode Canaania obesa, the nematodes Stilestrongylus lanfrediae,S. eta and S. aculeata, and the cestode Rodentolepis akodontis. The helminth community structure followed a nested pattern of distribution in A. montensis and O. nigripes. Stilestrongylus lanfrediae seemed to be more associated with dense understorey, C. obesa with open canopy and dense understorey, and Guerrerostrongylus zetta with organic matter on the ground. Their presence in each area may be explained by aspects of their life cycles that take place in the external environment outside the host.

The majority of normal sera proved in vitro to be cercaricidal to larvae of S. mansoni. Of 502 normal sera. 21 per cent, were noncercaricidal whereas the remainder exhibited varying degrees of cercaricidal potency.

The cercaricidal factor was thermolabile and disappeared during storage. It bore several points of similarity to complement.

The cercaricidal factor was present to a varying degree in sera from all species investigated. Apparently normal sera from all cattle and different proportions of other species, caused an enveloping precipitate to form around the cercariae. This bore no obvious relationship to the nematode worm burden or presence of F. hepatica.

An enveloping precipitate formed around cercariae of S. mansoni when placed in vitro in immune sera and incubated at 87°C. This occurred in serum immune to S. haematobium as well as to S. mansoni. It is not known-whether age and weight of infection influence the rate and extent of envelope precipitation.

1. The method of maintaining schistosomes in vitro is described in detail.

2. Observations made on cultured S. mansoni are given.

3. Investigation of glycogen content shows that there is no significant difference between the reserve of glycogen in fresh and cultured worms. It is suggested that the worms do not rely on their reserve of glycogen but can take up carbohydrate from the medium.

4. The method could be adapted for the culture of other helminths besides schistosomes.

Fifty children aged 6 to 13 years and infected with Ascaris lumbricoides were selected for the study. The number of eggs laid daily by a female Ascaris increased with increase in its length, weight and diameter. Female worms became mature and started laying eggs when they reached a length of 118 mm. Adult female worms measuring 3·7 mm or more in diameter were found to be mature. The minimum weight of a worm producing eggs was 1·1 g. On average the number of eggs produced by the female decreased with increase in the worm load.

1. The intake of microfilariae of Onchocerca volvulus in two series of females of Simulium damnosum fed on an infected human volunteer in West Africa and dissected after staining in London was from 0–171 microfilariae per female in one series and from 0–152 microfilariae per female in the other series. The distribution of microfilariae per female became more normal when plotted on a geometric scale.

2. The migration of the microfilariae was followed in the two series of flies by comparing the geometric (Williams) mean numbers of microfilariae in the stomach, abdomen, thorax and head, from 2 minutes to 48 houis after engorgement on blood. Microfilariae left the blood meal rapidly after engorgement, 40–50% leaving the stomach within the first 60 minutes.

The Baermann funnel technique is now well known to nematologists, but the modification here described was devised to facilitate the collection of large numbers of nematodes in a small volume of water with the minimum of plant debris present. The method has proved very satisfactory in obtaining nematodes for toxicity tests, for example, from “tulip-rooted” oats infested with stem eelworm. It is often a lengthy procedure to remove nematodes from a relatively large bulk of water such as is contained in a full watch-glass, particularly if much fine plant debris is also present. By means of the modification described an almost “pure culture” of nematodes is obtained, the amount of water being very little greater in volume than the nematodes.

The apparatus is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1:—

The funnel, f, has resting in it a small metal sieve, s, which may easily be made by cutting off a section about ¾-in. deep from a piece of copper pipe of from 2½–8-in. diameter. Fine copper wire mesh, wm, is then soldered on to the bottom rim. This wire mesh need not be fine enough to retain all fragments of plant material, since a circle of fine bolting silk, bs, is laid within the sieve on top of the wire mesh, so that it fits exactly within the inside of the sieve. No bolting silk has yet been found which will retain living nematodes. The bolting silk, however, retains all plant material and is easily removed and cleaned.

Praziquantel (Droncit) is a new anthelminthic agent with a strikingly wide therapeutic index. The efficiency of the drug against Diphyllobothrium latum was tested in vivo and in vitro. With a drug dose of 50 mg/kg, artificially infected hamsters were completely cured. The threshold value of the active dose was between 2·5 and 10·0 mg/kg. Clinical trials with Praziquantel against human diphyllobothriasis show great promise, all of ten patients treated with 25·0 mg/kg of the drug being cured. Praziquantel had little effect on larval or adult diphyllobothriids in vitro.

Some years ago I suggested that a medical malacologist must not only learn to think like a population of snails but that he must also try to see those snails through the eye-spots of populations of trematode miracidia. For the past ten years I have been attempting to perform this unlikely combined feat. As time passes my tendency has been to concentrate on the second part of the contortion, partly because as a helminthologist it is natural to take a worm's-eye view of life and partly because it is very easy to become absorbed in the biology of the snails for their own sake. We should remember that if molluscs were not essential hosts to some parasites of man and domestic animals there would be no justification for a symposium on medical malacology.

Mathevotaenia paraguayae sp. n. is described from Euphractus sexcinctus. It differs from M. didelphidis (Rud.) in having a transverse cirrus pouch anterior to the vagina. Monoecocestus mackiewiczi sp. n. was found in Phyllotis sp. It differs from M. parcitesticulatus Rego in having a much smaller scolex, a poral ovary, and a cirrus pouch 360 to 440 μm long. Other species reported are Taenia macrocystis, Taenia omissa, Spirometra mansonoides, Spirometra gracilis, Spirometra longicollis, Diphyllobothrium trinitatis, Atriotaenia parva, and Mathevotaenia tetragonocephala.

The nurse cell in the cyst of Trichinella spiralis comprises at least two kinds of cytoplasm, derived from muscle or satellite cells, as indicated by the pattern of staining using regular dye (haematoxylin and eosin, or toluidine blue), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) expression, acid phosphatase (ACP) expression and immunostaining with an anti-intermediate filament protein (desmin or keratin). Muscle cells undergo basophilic changes following a T. spiralis infection and transform to the nurse cells, accompanied by an increase in ACP activity and the disappearance of desmin. Satellite cells are activated, transformed and joined to the nurse cells but remain eosinophilic. The eosinophilic cytoplasm is accompanied by an increase in desmin and ALP expression but not an increase in ACP activity. Differences in the staining results for ALP or ACP suggest that the two kinds of cytoplasm have different functions. Trichinella pseudospiralis infection results in an increase of ACP activity at a later stage than T. spiralis. There is also a difference in the location pattern of ACP in the cyst of T. spiralis compared with T. pseudospiralis. In T. spiralis, ACP is diffused within the cell, but in T. pseudospiralis, ACP distribution is spotty corresponding to the location of the nucleus. Trichinella pseudospiralis infection is accompanied by a slight increase in ALP activity. Activated satellite cells following a T. pseudospiralis infection exhibit an increase in desmin expression. The present study therefore reveals that nurse cell cytoplasm differs between the two Trichinella species and between the two origins of cytoplasm in the cyst of T. spiralis.

The behaviour of six species of African schistosomes and their hybrids has been compared qualitatively and quantitatively in baboons, with a view to finding a schistosome of high infectivity but low pathogenicity to the baboon for use in heterologous immunity experiments. This study, which includes the first comparative study of the pathogenicity of these six species in primates, is complementary to earlier studies in rodents in which these schistosomes and their hybrids were compared in terms of egg morphology, snail infectivity, and infectivity and pathogenicity. In rodents, statistically significant differences were detected in the behaviour of each pair of sibling species with regard to percentage worm recovery, rate of egg production and percentage distribution of the eggs in the tissues, and the hybrids also differed significantly from their “parental” species.

Even greater differences were found in baboons. For example, although all the strains studied produced mature egg-laying adults in rodents, no worms, eggs, or histopathological changes resulted from exposure of baboons to S. rodhaini or S. bovis. With regard to prepatent period, S. mansoni was the shortest (5–6 weeks), S. haematobium the longest (12–14 weeks), while S. mattheei and S. intercalatum occupied intermediate positions (7–9 weeks). The hybrids all matured in 7–9 weeks except the S. bovis/S. mattheei hybrid (11–16 weeks). S. haematobium similarly had a much longer maturation time in rodents. Complete or partial “self-cure” occurred in 3 baboons but was not observed in rodents. The percentage worm recovery of S. mansoni was higher than for the S. mansoni/S. rodhaini hybrids while with the S. haematobium group of species, worm recovery was highest with S. mattheei followed by S. intercalatum and S. haematobium, the same order as in rodents. With the S. haematobium-group hybrids, worm recovery was generally high except with the S. bovis/S. haematobiuun hybrid.

The influence of climatic conditions on the prevalence and transmission of helminth parasites in a terrestrial mollusc population was studied in a grassland site in southern England between 1974 and 1983. Molluscs were sampled in each September of 5 years over this period (1974, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1983). Climatic conditions had a variable effect on parasite prevalence. Trematode sporocyst infections increased after wet summer and warm winter conditions and declined in hot, dry periods. Cestode infections increased after combined wet spring and summer weather and low winter temperatures, although trematode metacercariae and nematode infections were less likely to be influenced by climate. The effects on parasite transmission were undertaken by comparing parasite prevalences in the principal definitive hosts, the common shrew (Sorex araneus) and the wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) in the same habitat over the period 1973–1983. Changes in parasite prevalences in the molluscan population were rarely replicated by changes in the small mammal population, except for trematode parasites in small mammals during a period of severe drought in 1976. These results suggest that only long-term persistent modifications in climate are likely to affect host–parasite dynamics.