Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-767nl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T20:17:09.083Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The survival of parasite eggs throughout the soil profile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

G. W. Storey
Affiliation:
Luton College of Higher Education, Park Square, Luton LU1 3JU
R. A. Phillips
Affiliation:
Luton College of Higher Education, Park Square, Luton LU1 3JU

Summary

An experiment using lysimeters suggested that the eggs of Taenia saginata and Ascaris lumbricoides survive for only a short time when applied to pasture in sewage sludge. However, a subsequent experiment which followed the survival of eggs throughout the soil profile demonstrated that some T. saginata eggs could still be found at 200 days on the soil surface, and that survival increased down the profile. Rainfall is shown to be able to wash eggs into the soil where they may be afforded protection from radiation and desiccation; this may have little epidemiological significance.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anon (1981). The risk to health of microbes in sewage sludge applied to land. EURO Report and Studies No. 54. 69 January 1981. WHO, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Coman, B. J. (1975). The survival of Taenia pisiformis eggs under laboratory conditions and in the field environment. Australian Veterinary Journal 51, 560–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duthy, B. L. & van Someren, V. D. (1947). The survival of Taenia saginata eggs on open pasture. East African Agricultural Journal 13, 147–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forstner, M. J. (1968). (Utilisation of sewage in agriculture – a joint problem). Zeitung für Wasser und Abwasser Forschung 4, 149–50.Google Scholar
Gemmell, M. A. & Johnstone, P. D. (1977). Experimental epidemiology of hydatidosis and cysticercosis. In Advances in Parasitology, vol 15, (ed. Dawes, B.). New York and London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Golueke, C. G. (1983). Epidemiological aspects of sludge handling and management. Biocycle 24, 50–8.Google Scholar
Jepson, A. C. & Roth, H. (1952). Epizootiology of Cysticercus bovis; resistance of the eggs of Taenia saginata. Proceedings of the 14th International Veterinary Congress, London, pp. 4350.Google Scholar
Owen, R. R. & Crewe, W. (1982). Environmental parasitology: review with particular reference to beef tapeworm. Environmental Health, December, 321–3.Google Scholar
Parsons, D. C., Brownlee, D., Wetler, A., Maurer, E., Haughton, L. K. & Selzak, M. (1975). Health aspects of sewage effluents irrigation. Pollution Control Branch, British Columbia Water Resources Service. Department of Lands, Forests and Water Resources. Victoria, B.C.Google Scholar
Pike, E. B. & Carrington, E. G. (1978). The effects of conventional sludge treatment processes on pathogens. Paper No. 13 WRC Conference on Utilisation of Sewage Sludge on Land,Oxford,April 1978.Google Scholar
Rickard, M. D. & Adolph, A. J. (1977). The prevalence of cysticerci of Taenia saginata in cattle reared on sewage–irrigated pasture. The Medical Journal of Australia 1, 525–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rudolfs, W., Falk, L. L. & Ragotzkie, R. A. (1951). Contamination of vegetables grown in polluted soil III. Fieldstudies of Ascaris eggs. Sewage and Industrial Wastes 23, 656–60.Google Scholar
Silverman, P. H. (1956). The longevity of eggs of T. pisiformis and T. saginata under various conditions. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 50, 7.Google Scholar
Spindler, L. A. (1929). On the use of a method for the isolation of Ascaris ova from soil. American Journal of Hygiene 10, 157–64.Google Scholar
Storey, G. W. & Phillips, R. A. (1982). A technique using continuous action centrifugation for the quantitative recovery of helminth eggs from vegetation and water. Parasitology 85, 257–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sweatman, G. K. & Williams, R. J. (1963). Survival of Echinococcus granulosus and Taenia hydatigena eggs in two extreme climatic regions of New Zeland. Research in Veterinary Science 4, 199215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoshida, S. (1920). On the resistance of Ascaris eggs. Journal of Parasitology 6, 132–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar