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A second peak of egg excretion in Strongyloides ratti-infected rats: its origin and biological meaning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 1999

E. KIMURA
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute-cho, Aichi-ken, Japan 480-1195
Y. SHINTOKU
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute-cho, Aichi-ken, Japan 480-1195
T. KADOSAKA
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute-cho, Aichi-ken, Japan 480-1195
M. FUJIWARA
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute-cho, Aichi-ken, Japan 480-1195
S. KONDO
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute-cho, Aichi-ken, Japan 480-1195
M. ITOH
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute-cho, Aichi-ken, Japan 480-1195

Abstract

In Strongyloides ratti-infected rats, 2 peaks of egg excretion were observed; a large one with maximum egg production on days 7–8 of infection and a small more inconspicuous one around day 25. The second peak, which had been ignored in most studies, was produced by adults in the caecum and the colon. The adults were larger in length and had more embryonated eggs in the uterus compared with adults in the small intestine at day 25 post-infection. It is suggested that parasitic adults once expelled from the small intestine resettle and recover in the large intestine. Filter paper faecal culture carried out for 9 days at different days post-infection revealed that the total number of infective larvae that developed during the second peak was twice the number that developed during the first peak, despite the fact that total egg output during the second peak was less than one twentieth of the first peak. The results suggest that the small second peak was as important as the first one in the transmission of S. ratti.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
1999 Cambridge University Press

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