Comment on: Human tapeworms in north Vietnam

Socio-environmental variables and transmission risk of lymphatic filariasis in central and northern Mozambique

Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is endemic in Mozambique, where it is caused by Wuchereria bancrofti with Culex quinquefasciatus as the main vector. It affects approximately 10% of the population (2 million) with about 16 million at risk. Prevalence rates in 40 out of 65 districts that together comprise the four endemic provinces Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Zambezia were analysed with the aim of elucidating the socio-environmental variables influencing the transmission. The levels of prevalence were divided into six ranks and certain climatic, environmental and social factors were considered independent variables. A climadiagram was created and the LF risk and the water budget-based index w…

Short report - A new case report of human Mesocestoides infection in the United States

The twenty-seventh documented case of human Mesocestoides infection, which corresponds to the seventh documented case in the United States, is reported. The case had its origin in Alexandria, Louisiana in the summer of 1998. The patient was a 19-month-old boy. The strobila consisted of 35 proglottids that included mature as well as gravid segments containing a ventral genital pore and a parauterine organ. After a detailed microscopic examination, the tapeworm was identified as belonging to the genus Mesocestoides. Mesocestoides variabilis is the probable species responsible for the infection, since the six cases previously reported in the United States were identified as this species. After…

Guinea Worm Infection in Dogs: A Case of Reverse Zoonosis that Impedes Dracunculus medinensis Eradication

Dracunculus medinensis or Guinea worm was largely considered an exclusive human parasite. The adult female D. medinensis (up to 100 cm long and 1.5–2.0 mm thick) inhabits and moves in the connective tissue, including the skin. Large females protrude from the skin causing unusual and unambiguous signs. Hosts become infected by drinking water containing the crustacean intermediate hosts (cyclopoid copepods known as water fleas) infected with Guinea worm L3 larvae. After years of a successful eradication campaign (focused mainly on preventing humans from drinking unfiltered or untreated water), Guinea worm transmission has been eliminated from most, but not all, countries. An unforeseeable hig…

Cooking infected copepods: On the survival of Guinea worm larvae

Onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy

Human cysticercosis and larval tropism of Taenia asiatica

Taenia solium, T. saginata and the recently discovered T. asiatica1xTaiwan Taenia and taeniasis. Fan, P.C. Parasitol. Today. 1988; 4: 86–88Abstract | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (61)See all References, 2xMorphologic descriptions of Taenia asiatica sp. n.. Eom, K.S. and Rim, H.J. Korean J. Parasitol. 1993; 31: 1–6Crossref | PubMedSee all References, 3xMorphological description of Taenia saginata asiatica (Cyclophyllidea: Taeniidae) from man in Asia. Fan, P.C. et al. J. Helminthol. 1995; 69: 299–303Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (44)See all References, are species of taeniid cestodes whose adult stages are known to infect humans. Less clear is whether the eggs of T. asiatica also infect human…

Helminths in organ transplantation

Risk Analysis of Human Anisakidosis Through the Consumption of the Blue Whiting, Micromesistius poutassou, Sold at Spanish Supermarkets

European legislation directed at the catering industry concerning the prevention of anisakidosis proposes efficient measures to avoid human infestation, but this legislation does not directly address the consumer at the household level. Assessing the anisakidosis risk for consumers who buy fresh fish at supermarkets in Spain, 284 blue whiting, Micromesistius poutassou, specimens, originating from two fishing zones and seasons of capture, sold at five nationwide Spanish supermarket chains, were examined to identify the presence of anisakid species and analyze their prevalence and abundance in viscera and flesh. The potential influence of intrinsic (length and weight) and extrinsic (origin, s…

Taenia asiatica: the Most Neglected Human Taenia and the Possibility of Cysticercosis

Not only Taenia solium and Taenia saginata, but also Taenia asiatica infects humans. The last species is not included in the evaluation of the specificity of the immunodiagnostic techniques for taeniasis/cysticercosis. There is currently no specific immunodiagnostic method for T. asiatica available. Therefore, due to the fact that molecular techniques (the only tool to distinguish the 3 Taenia species) are normally not employed in routine diagnostic methods, the 2 questions concerning T. asiatica (its definite geographic distribution and its ability to cause human cysticercosis), remain open, turning T. asiatica into the most neglected agent of human taeniasis-cysticercosis.

On the role of Taenia asiatica in human cases of cysticercosis.

The Guinea Worm: A Zoonotic Parasite of Dogs

Diagnosis and treatment of human sparganosis

WHO delays guinea-worm disease eradication to 2020: are dogs the sole culprits?

Commentary: Dogs and the classic route of Guinea Worm transmission: an evaluation of copepod ingestion

Dracunculus medinensis, the causative agent of Guinea worm disease in humans, is being reported with increasing frequency in dogs. However, the route(s) of transmission to dogs is still poorly understood. Classical transmission to humans occurs via drinking water that contains cyclopoid copepods infected with third stage larvae of D. medinensis, but due to the method of dog drinking (lapping) compared to humans (suction and/or retrieval of water into containers), it seems unlikely that dogs would ingest copepods readily through drinking. We exposed lab raised beagles to varying densities of uninfected copepods in 2 liters of water to evaluate the number of copepods ingested during a drinkin…

Neurocysticercosis, Taenia asiatica and Cheju Island in Korea

Unusual multiparasitism causes overweight in a wood mouse,Apodemus sylvaticus(Rodentia: Muridae), from a post-fire regeneration area

Multiparasitism is a common ecological phenomenon, being the norm rather than the exception, in the wild. This article describes the case of a wood mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus, originating from a post-fire regeneration area, infected with multiple helminth species and remarkable overweight. The mouse analyzed was captured at a post-fire regeneration site in the Serra Calderona Natural Park (Comunitat Valenciana, Spain). The rodent was captured and marked for the first time in the spring of 2011, weighing 22.5 g. When it was recaptured in the winter of 2012, it weighed 44.0 g. The mouse was parasitized by a total of 31 helminths belonging to seven species, including six Taenia parva metacesto…

Dogs and Guinea worm eradication

After 30 years of control campaigns, guinea worm faces eradication. However, dogs are expected to thwart the eradication of dracunculiasis as they act as alternative hosts of the worm. The health community un doubtedly have to recognise the success of the Guinea Worm Eradication Program (GWEP), although some flaws cannot be overlooked. One of the most essential points when trying to achieve the control of parasitic infections is to determine the role of reservoirs that could maintain the disease. Erroneously, dogs are likely to have been ignored as reservoirs of Dracunculus medinensis so far. I fi nd it hard to believe that a parasite that has always been considered specific to humans is ab…

On the reservoirs of Leishmania infantum in urban areas

Leishmania has biologically adapted to specific phlebotomine sand flies through long co-evolution. The ability of Leishmania spp. to bind to sand fly midgut allows each Leishmania species to propagate and differentiate into infectious promastigotes and be transmitted. Sand fly feeding upon a mammalian host is the first step towards being infected and a host of Leishmania. Once deposited into the skin, host susceptibility to infection vs. ability to mount a sterilizing immune response predicts which hosts could be reservoirs of different Leishmania spp. Materials, in addition to parasites, are expelled during sand fly during feeding, including salivary antigens and other factors that promote…