Human alveolar echinococcosis and cystic echinococcosis in Austria: The recent epidemiological Situation
AUER, H., ASPÖCK, H.
Department of Medical Parasitology, Clinical Institute of Hygiene and Clinical Microbiology, University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15, A-1095 Vienna, Austria, E-mail:herbert.auer@univie.ac.at
Summary
Both alveolar echinococcosis (AE) and cystic (CE) echinococcosis are prevalent and autochthonous in Austria. Based on historical facts, clinical, histopathological, serological and epidemiological data obtained during the last 15 years, the recent epidemiological situation of both forms of echinococcosis in Austria are described. In total, 38 AE and 519 CE cases have been registered between 1985 and 1999, reflecting an annual incidence of 2.5 (0.034/100000) and 34.6 (0.458/100000), respectively. 37 out of 38 AE (97.4 %) and 222 of 519 CE 42.8 % patients are of Austrian origin, 1 AE patient (Switzerland) and 297 (57.2 %) CE patients are of non-Austrian origin [mainly from Turkey (N = 130; 43.8 %) and the former Yugoslavia (N = 105; 35.4 %)]. The endemic areas of AE are situated in the western provinces (Vorarlberg, Tyrol), but one focus could also be detected in the north eastern province Lower Austria; most Austrian CE patients are residents of the eastern provinces Burgenland, Lower Austria and Styria.
HELMINTHOLOGIA, 38, 1:15-21, 2001
Disturbances of mouse pregnancy after injection of ascaris a -chymotrypsin inhibitor during early organogenesis
J. BLASZKOWSKA
Department of Medical Biology and Parasitology, Medical University of Lodz, Kosciuszki Street 85, 90-436 Lodz, POLAND
Summary
Pregnant BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally injected a daily dose of 20-80 mg of Ascaris a -chymotrypsin inhibitor per kg body weight at a early stage of organogenesis (5-9 days of pregnancy /plug=0/). Foetuses were collected on gestation day 19, weighed, and examined for malformations (internal organs evaluated using Wilson’s section, skeleton stained according to Peters’ method). It has been found that administration of the a -chymotrypsin inhibitor during early organogenesis had a harmful effect upon the developing mouse foetuses. Injection of the inhibitor did not delay or prevent implantation, but caused a high rate of intrauterine deaths. All doses of the inhibitor exhibited an embryotoxic and fetotoxic effect (embryofoetal deaths, increased intrauterine resorption of litter, pathological changes of foetal organs and tissues, retarded ossification of skeleton, decreased mean body weight of foetuses as compared to control). Congenital malformations (exencephaly and internal hydrocephalus) were noted in foetuses with higher doses of Ascaris inhibitor (40- 60 mg/kg/day). No malformations were observed in control groups (0.9% NaCl – group 1, 80 mg of bovine albumin per kg/day – group 2) and after injection of minimum dose of the inhibitor (20 mg/kg/day). The symptoms of maternal toxicity that occurred after administration of higher doses of the inhibitor to pregnant mice included: decreased body weight gain /p<0.001/ as compared to controls, bleeding from uterus, female mortality and altered behaviour of animals immadiately after injection.
HELMINTHOLOGIA, 38, 1:23-27, 2001
Triaenophorus nodulosus (Cestoda, Pseudophyllidea): final stages of carbohydrate metabolism
G. I. Izvekova
I. D. Papanin Institute of Biology of Inland Waters, Russian Academy of Sciences, Borok, Yroslavl Prov. 152742 Russia, E-mail:
izvekov@ibiw.yaroslavl.ruSummary
pH dynamics in the incubation medium and secretion of lactic acid by adult Triaenophorus nodulosus from pike intestine were studied. During the incubation in vitro the medium pH decreased. The medium pH varies within the limits of pH optima for basic digestive enzymes of the host. Lactate secretion does not depend on glucose presence in the medium being comparable to its amount in the host intestine. In the anterior part of the strobilus the lactate content is greater than in posterior one, due to higher metabolic rates in this section of the worm. Changes in pH and secretion of lactate, as a product of the final stages of carbohydrate metabolism in T. nodulosus, do not greatly effect the parameters of host enteral medium, testifying to a deep adaptation of parasite to environmental conditions.
HELMINTHOLOGIA, 38, 1:29-33, 2001
Accumulation of heavy metals in the Ligula intestinalis plerocercoids (Pseudophyllidea) of different age
V. Barus, F. Tenora1, S. Kracmar1, M. Prokes
Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Květná 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic, e-mail: prokes@brno.cas.cz; 1Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Zemědělská 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic, e-mail: kracmar@mendelu.cz
Summary
The heavy metal (Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni) concentrations were evaluated in two age groups (0+ and 1+; 2+ and older) of Ligula intestinalis plerocercoids from the body cavity of two fish intermediate hosts (bream, Abramis brama; roach, Rutilus rutilus). Statistically highly significant lower concentrations of Pb, Cd and Cr were found in young plerocercoids as compared with older specimens. By contrast, concentrations of Ni were higher in younger plerocercoids. The accumulation and increase of Pb, Cd and Cr concentrations in pseudophyllidean tapeworm plerocercoids is considered to be a gradual and long-term process, occurring probably during the whole growing phase of these parasites in the intermediate host. Environmental influences of heavy metal accumulation are discussed.
HELMINTHOLOGIA, 38, 1:35-42, 2001
Studies on Metacercarial infection among Tilapia species in Egypt
O. A., Mahdy, I. B., Shaheed,
Department of Parasitology and Department of Pathology Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Cairo University, Egypt
Summary
The parasitological examination of a total of 150 Tilapia fish were collected from three localities in Egypt revealed that 61.3 % fish were infected with six different types of encysted metacercariae (EMC). Heterophyid metacercariae were reported from Tilapia zillii and T. nilotica, haplorchid metacercariae were found in T. galilae, T. ouria, T. zillii and T. nilotica. Clinostomatid and euclinostomatid metacercariae occurred at the lowest percentage among T. zillii. Experimental feeding of puppies with EMC resulted in the recovery of the following flukes, Prohemistomum vivax, Pygidiopsis genata, Heterophyes heterophyes, Phagicola mollienesicola, Haplorchis pumilio, H. taichui and H. wellsi. Experimental infection of puppies with metacercariae of diplostomatid, clinostomatid and euclinostomatid trematodes showed that they were refractory to infection . Histopathological effect of adult flukes on the intestine and mesenteric lymph nodes of experimental infected puppies revealed presence of catarral and granulomatous enteritis accompanied by hyperplasia of the lymphoid follicles either in intestine or mesenteric lymphnodes.
HELMINTHOLOGIA, 38, 1:43-45, 2001
Dichelyne japonicus sp. n. (Nematoda: Cucullanidae), a new intestinal parasite of the marine sciaenid fish Argyrosomus argentatus in Japan
F. MORAVEC, K. NAGASAWA1, K. OGAWA2
Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic; 1National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries, Fisheries Agency of Japan, 5-7-1 Orido, Shimizu, Shizuoka 424, Japan; 2Department of Aquatic Bioscience, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan
Summary
A new cucullanid nematode, Dichelyne japonicus sp. n., is described from a single available specimen collected from the intestine of the marine fish Argyrosomus argentatus (Houttuyni) (Sciaenidae, Perciformes) from the East China Sea in Japan (Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture, Kyushu Island). This species is characterized by the absence of a ventral sucker (subgenus Dichelyne) and it differs from its congeners mainly in possessing a bifurcated tail tip, two unequally long intestinal caeca, equal spicules 0.088 mm long, and in a distribution of caudal papillae. This is the first Dichelyne species reported from Japanese waters.
HELMINTHOLOGIA, 38, 1:47-50, 2001
Longidoridae (Nematoda: Dorylaimida) in natural grassland of fluvial plains and river banks in the Slovak Republic
M. Lišková
Parasitological Institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences, Hlinkova 3, 04 001 Košice, Slovak Republic
Summary
The occurence of longidorid nematodes in the soils of grassland of fluvial plains and at natural river bank vegetation was investigated throughout Slovakia. The species Longidorus caespiticola, L. elongatus, L. euonymus, L. juglandicola, L. leptocephalus, L. macrosoma, L. poessneckensis, L. vineacola, Paralongidorus maximus and Xiphinema diversicaudatum were recorded from grassland, whereas from river bank vegetation L. elongatus, L. euonymus, L. juglandicola, L. leptocephalus, L. piceicola, L. picenus, L. poessneckensis, P. maximus, X. diversicaudatum and X. vuittenezi were cecovered. The longidorids occurred in grassland with a frequency of F=54%, and in soils of river banks with F=63%. Longidorus elongatus, L. leptocephalus, L. poessneckensis and X. diversicaudatum can be considered characteristic species for Fluvisol soil type, i.e., soil derived from river sediments. The most frequently occurring species were L. leptocephalus, with F=35% in grassland and F=24% in river banks, X. diversicaudatum with F=13% in grassland and F=24% with river bank vegetation. The other species occurred only sporadically. Ecological data on the geographical distribution in Slovakia of each nematode species associated with the two vegetation types are presented.
HELMINTHOLOGIA, 38, 1:51-56, 2001
Occurrence of prostaglandins and other eicosanoids in helminths and their role in host-parasite interaction
J. Szkudliński
Biology and Medicine Parasitology, Medical University, 90-436 Łodz, Al. Kościuszki 85, Poland
Summary
Prostaglandins are well recognized as metabolic regulators in vertebrate tissues, mainly in mammals; fewer reports concern their occurrence in invertebrates. Prostaglandins have also been found in very primitive organisms such as bacteria, various primitive plants and protozoa, suggesting that they seem to be a very ancient group, going back to the roots of evolution. In the present review, we summarise literature data about the presence of prostaglandins and other eicosanoids in various groups of parasites and helminths and their possible role in host-parasite interaction mainly as a modulators of the host’s immune responsiveness.