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A programme of selective anthelmintic therapy was used in a herd of 31 horses. Faecal egg counts were done during the months of September, November, January, March, May and the following September. Horses with greater than or equal to 100 eggs per gram (epg) were treated with ivermectin, and those with less than 100 epg were not treated. The criteria for adequate internal parasite control in the herd was a median herd faecal egg count of less than or equal to 100 epg. Effectiveness of selective therapy was assessed by faecal egg count after nine months of treatment and was determined to be adequate when a median herd egg count of 0 epg was obtained. However, on returning from pasture the following September, median herd egg count had risen to 325 epg. A statistically significant correlation was seen in the paired September faecal egg counts of the horses in that initial September faecal egg count was predictive for the following September. Initial September faecal egg count was related to the number of anthelmintic treatments required during the period of selective therapy, whereas age of horse was not. We propose that faecal egg counts be incorporated into strategic anthelmintic programmes as an economical tool for identifying and targeting herd members predisposed to shedding elevated numbers of helminth eggs.

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Dogs and cats become infected with tapeworms by ingesting intermediate hosts that contain encysted juvenile tapeworms called larvae. The dog or cat is said to be the definitive host because it shelters the sexually reproductive, egg-producing stage of the tapeworm. The intermediate hosts, which are vertebrates in the case of Taenia and Mesocestoides and insects in the case of Dipylidium and Hymenolepis, become infected by ingesting unhatched but infective tapeworm eggs discharged in the feces of the dog or cat. The relatively less common Diphyllobothrium and Spirometra tapeworms discharge eggs that are undeveloped when passed in the feces and must fall into water to undergo development to the coracidium stage. Diphyllobothrium and Spirometra may have two or three aquatic intermediate hosts in series. The first of these, a copepod, ingests the free-swimming coracidium or ciliated oncosphere that has hatched from the egg. The final intermediate host containing the larva (plerocercoid) infective for the dog or cat is an aquatic vertebrate (fish, frog, water snake). Thus, dogs and cats become infected with tapeworms by eating uncooked meat or fish or by ingesting certain insects. These intermediate hosts are infected with juvenile tapeworms called larvae, which are the infective form for the dog or cat. The intermediate hosts, in turn, become infected by ingesting tapeworm eggs discharged in the feces of the dog or cat or, in the case of Diphyllobothrium and Spirometra, by ingesting coracidia that have subsequently developed in and hatched from such eggs. By far the most common tapeworms of dogs and cats in North America are D. caninum, T. pisiformis, and T. hydatigena. Therefore, the most common sources of tapeworm infection are, respectively, fleas, wild rabbits, and the uncooked meat and offal of ruminants and swine. Whenever a dose of tapeworm remedy is administered or dispensed, the client should be informed of these potential sources of reinfection. There is considerable overlap in the spectra of activity of currently available cestocides. Mebendazole, fenbendazole, niclosamide, bunamidine, and praziquantel are all effective against Taenia spp. Bunamidine is the drug of choice against Spirometra, Diphyllobothrium, and Mesocestoides. Praziquantel is the drug of choice against Echinococcus and Dipylidium.

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The author discusses the parasites that infect the nasal passages, trachea, bronchi, and lung parenchyma of dogs and cats. The clinical signs, diagnosis, epidemiology, treatment, and control of infection are also considered.

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The number of schistosomula in the axillary lymph nodes of mice was determined by compressed tissue autoradiography at 13 intervals from 0.5 to 28 days after exposure of abdominal skin to 75Se-labeled cercariae of S. mansoni. Significant accumulations were observed between days 3 and 6 and peaked on day 4 at which time 9.4 +/- 1.1% of the schistosomula present in the whole body were found in the axillary lymph nodes. The total number and distribution of schistosomula in all tissues of mice were likewise determined at 12 intervals from 3 to 24 days following exposure. The frequent appearance of small numbers of schistosomula in trachea and esophagus suggested that normal attrition resulted at least in part from physical expulsion of schistosomula from the body by way of the tracheobronchial tree and gastrointestinal tract. The distribution of schistosomula observed in heart chambers, caudal vena cava, hepatic portal vein, aorta, intestinal wall, thoracic cavity rinses, and diaphragm supported all 3 standing hypotheses regarding route of migration from lungs to hepatic portal system, i.e., that schistosomula migrate via (1) the pulmonary artery, right heart, caudal vena cava, and hepatic veins, (2) the pulmonary vein, left heart, aorta, and cranial mesenteric artery, and (3) the thoracic cavity and diaphragm.

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Artificially hatched infective larvae of Toxocara canis were labeled with 75Se in Medium 199 (Gibco) containing 75Se-methionine. Male CD-1 mice were infected with radiolabeled larvae by intragastric intubation or by intraperitoneal injection. At intervals of 3-56 days mice were killed and the organs prepared for compressed organ autoradiography. Radioactivity of parasitic larvae showed an exponential decrease with time, reflecting catabolism of label with a biological half life of 26 days (effective half life of 21 days) making possible experiments lasting several months. Total body larva counts, estimated by total body autoradiography, displayed an overall downward trend, but the rate of reduction was probably not constant because no significant positive or negative trends were noted from day 14 onward in the numbers of larvae. The carcass accumulated the greatest number of larvae followed by the central nervous system, liver, and lung in that order. When the numbers of larvae were considered in relationship to the mass of tissue, there were 4 groupings: central nervous system, liver, lung, carcass, and kidney, and genito-urinary organ, pelt, and intestine. No significant difference between intragastric and intraperitoneal administration was observed in the larval distribution after the larvae had left the initial site of deposition.

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The total number and distribution of schistosomula of Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium in all tissues and organs of mice from infection to 14-27 days was determined by compressed tissue autoradiography. Attrition of schistosomula, manifested as a decrease in the number of autoradiographic foci, was observed in organs other than the liver. Attrition commenced about 2 days after cercariae entered the skin, and conformed to a single exponential function with a rate constant (+/- standard error) of 7.0 +/- 0.5%/day for S. mansoni and 3.2 +/- 0.7%/day for S. haematobium. The temporal distribution of schistosomula of S. mansoni and S. haematobium differed quantitatively. In the case of S. mansoni, concomitant with a decrease in skin counts, the lung curve rose rapidly to a peak centred on day 6 and thereafter decreased more or less parallel to the total body curve. Significant accumulation in the liver was not observed until day 7, whereupon liver counts rose steadily to a plateau that extended from about day 14 to the end of the experiment and approximated the number of adult worms recovered from the hepatic portal vessels on day 42. A maximum of 26% and mean of 12% of all foci in the body were counted on autoradiograms of tissues other than the skin, lung and liver. The pelt averaged 14% of the body weight yet schistosomula were detected only in the area initially exposed to cercariae. The eviscerated carcass averaged 54% of the body weight yet contained only 0.8%-3.4% of the schistosomula during the period of accumulation in the liver. Between day 6 and day 14, the ratio of schistosomula in the pulmonary circulation to schistosomula in the systemic circulation did not remain constant, as would be the case if schistosomula circulated passively and randomly, but instead displayed a statistically significant decrease from 0.92 and 0.85. For these reasons, it was considered unlikely that schistosomula had circulated randomly and repeatedly through the pulmonary and systemic circulations and entered the hepatic portal system by chance as hypothesized by Miller & Wilson (1980). Instead it was considered more probable that schistosomula migrating from lungs to liver had followed a directed path through intervening vessels (Kruger, Heitman, van Wyk & McCully, 1969) or tissues (Wilks, 1967).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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Ten radioisotopes (133Ba, 207Bi, 109Cd, 51Cr, 59Fe, 203Hg, 54Mn, 125Sb and 75Se) were used to label the L-3 stage of Brugia malayi. The in vitro uptake at 4 hours in a buffered salt solution was greatest for 207Bi and exceeded that of 203Hg, by a factor of 6 and the rest of the radionuclides by factors of 26 or more. Dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) (1%) in the medium only slightly enhanced the uptake of 207Bi but increased 203Hg uptake by a factor of 2.5. After incubation in non-radioactive medium only 2% of the 207Bi was retained; for 203Hg the retention was 70% or better. Increasing the labeling time increased total uptake and retention of the radionuclides. The retention of the 203Hg injected intraperitoneally into jirds (Meriones unguiculatus) in the form of labeled L-3s was followed over a 16 day period by counting the jirds in a whole animal NaI crystal detector. One L-4 stage of B malayi was recovered at the end of this period.

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The parasite burden of captive and colony-born woodchucks maintained in laboratory animal facilities was determined and compared to woodchucks recently trapped. Microfilariae of Ackertia marmotae in blood or dermis were most commonly observed in trapped woodchucks. There was a linear decrease in woodchucks positive for microfilariae after introduction in the laboratory colony, but even after 39 months, 53% were positive. Microfilaremia or microfilariderma were never observed in colony born woodchucks. Eggs or oocysts of Obeliscoides cuniculi, Citellina triradiata and Eimeria sp. were found by fecal flotation. The O. cuniculi population declined exponentially in captive woodchucks following colony entry, and this nematode was never found in colony-born woodchucks. However, low rates of infection with Citellina and Eimeria sp. were found in the colony-born group. Ixodes cookei, Oropsylla sp., and Androlaelaps sp. ectoparasites were observed commonly in recently trapped woodchucks, but were not present in any woodchucks maintained in the colony. Clinical disease associated with parasitic infection was not observed.

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The in vitro uptake of gamma-emitting radionuclides by microfilariae of Dirofilaria immitis was investigated. Radionuclides tested were 133Ba, 207Bi, 82Br, 109Cd, 51Cr, 60Co, 59Fe, 203Hg, 125I, 54Mn, 32P, 125Sb, 46Sc, 75Se and 65Zn. Only 207Bi, 59Fe, 203Hg, 54Mn and 46Sc showed more than 2% of the available radioactivity to bind to the microfilariae. When tested for retention in vitro only 203Hg showed retention levels approaching 90%. Moreover, when dimethyl-sulphoxide was incorporated into the medium at levels of 1% (v/v) the uptake of 203Hg could be increased by 3-5 times; no other radio-isotope tested responded in this manner. The uptake of 203Hg was directly related to temperature and time of incubation. Mercury, as mercuric chloride, was toxic to the microfilariae and represents an impediment to the incorporation of high levels of 203Hg in microfilariae.

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Microfilariae of Dirofilaria immitis were labelled with 203Hg2+ in vitro and injected into irradiated mice and Beagle dogs. With irradiated mice it was possible to demonstrate microfilariae present in the blood and to detect 203Hg by external counting as long as 28 days after dosing. The 203Hg2+ label had a half-time of 4-5 days; the amount of stable mercury in the labelling medium strongly influenced the survival of microfilariae in vivo. In dogs, external counting showed the lungs to be a major location of the microfilariae soon after reinjection into the host. Evidence was obtained that labelled microfilariae can circulate; however, the detection of dispersed microfilariae is difficult because of the relative insensitivity of the detecting system. For radiomercury the accumulation of the inorganic form in the liver and kidneys limits the long-term usefulness of 203Hg2+ as a label if the organism being studied also accumulates in these organs.

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Migration and elimination of radiolabeled Schistosoma mansoni were compared in naive and irradiated cercaria-immunized mice by autoradiography of compressed host tissues. The results indicated that 1) most of the normal elimination of schistosomula in unimmunized mice and the additional elimination in immunized mice occur at some point(s) after arrival of schistosomula in the lungs and before their development into adult worms, 2) migration of schistosomula from skin to lungs is delayed for several days but not reduced in immunized mice, 3) migration of schistosomula from lungs to liver is delayed for several days in immunized mice, and 4) schistosomula reach the liver in reduced numbers or are killed and cleared in the liver in greater numbers in immunized mice. The lung chop procedure was shown to recover schistosomula from control and irradiated cercaria-immunized mice with equal efficiency. Autoradiography of all tissues of the body demonstrated that, in both control and immunized mice, at least 20-25% of the schistosomula detectable 2 and 3 weeks after infection were present in tissues other than the skin, lungs and liver.

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Haemonchus contortus infective larvae incorporated between 5 and 12 pCi/larva for each muCi of 75Se-methionine added per gram of fecal sediment. Thorough admixture of 75Se-methionine and fecal sediment was necessary to obtain approximately normal distribution and low variance of individual larval radioactivities. Ecdysis induced by treatment with 0.025% HClO in vitro resulted in loss of approximately 40% of the 75Se label of infective larvae. Loss of 75Se by parasitic larvae and adult H. contortus in vivo conformed to a two-component negative exponential function with half lives of 3.1 and 56 days acting on compartments representing 90% and 10%, respectively, of the 75Se label remaining after ecdysis. Labeled and unlabeled worms were readily distinguished by autoradiography 37 days after infection. No effect of gamma radiation arising from decay of 75Se in the range 130 to 1,300 pCi/larva could be measured in terms of survival or sex ratio of worms recovered at 17 days PI.

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The number of schistosomula in lungs was determined by compressed organ autoradiography at intervals up to 14 days after exposure of mice to 75Se-labelled cercariae by tail immersion. Probit analysis of compressed lung autoradiogram focus counts, expressed as percentages of initial infection level, yielded estimates of the average time of arrival, peak accumulation in the lungs and average time of departure of schistosomula: 4.5 +/- 0.87, 6.3 +/- 0.45 and 11 +/- 0.58 days, respectively. At peak accumulation 92 +/- 3.5% of the initial number of schistosomula were found in the lungs. It thus appears that little or no significant attrition of schistosomula occurred in the skin and, instead, that most of the 50-70% of penetrant cercariae that fail to reach adulthood are lost somewhere between the pulmonary and hepatic phases of development. Loss of 75Se label from schistosomula during the first 14 days was exponential, with an average half-life of 4.5 +/- 0.81 days. However, the high sensitivity of autoradiography tended to compensate for this rather rapid rate of label loss. It was pointed out that autoradiographic detection of schistosomula as discrete loci of radioactivity can also be expected to overcome the problem posed by the accumulation in such tissues as liver and kidney of 75Se label that has become separated from larvae.

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Lung radioassay and compressed lung autoradiography of 75Se-labeled schistosomula were used to quantify lung schistosomula. Recovery of schistosomula from minced lung tissue after a 4-hr incubation yielded 69.4 +/- 6.3% of the total number present as demonstrated by subsequent autoradiography of these tissues. Radioassay of lung tissue was considered a valid alternative to autoradiography only for parallel comparisons and those not requiring estimation of the actual number of schistosomula. The number of schistosomula in the lungs on day 6 was significantly correlated with radioactivity in the tail on day 1 (r2 = 91.8%). It was concluded that compressed lung autoradiography provides both an alternative to and an adjunct to standard schistosomulum recovery techniques in the assay of early S. mansoni infections.

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Two commercial research Beagle breeding colonies began a control program for Filaroides hirthi. All stud dogs and all nonpregnant, nonlactating brood bitches were given two courses, 2-4 weeks apart, of 25 mg/kg body weight albendazole per os twice daily for 5 days. Puppies of treated dams were isolated from puppies of nontreated dams. The proportions of infected puppies of puppies killed in 1979 were 45% and 78% from the two colonies. After 1979, the proportions were 0.2% and 24%. One colony may have had a problem with albendazole toxicity; the problem was stopped by changing the diet.

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Eleven gamma-emitting radionuclides (49Sc, 54Mn, 59Fe (+2 and +3), 60Co, 65Zn, 75Se (as selenomethionine, selenocystine, selenite and selenate), 109Cd, 125Sb, 133Ba, 137Cs and 203Hg) were screened as labelling agents for Schistosoma mansoni cercariae by incubation of infected Biomphalaria glabrata snails in radioactive solution according to the technique of Christensen (1977). Only [75Se]methionine yielded satisfactorily labelled cercariae. Multiple regression analysis of volume, number of cercariae and radioactivity from a series of 10 aliquots of unwashed cercarial suspensions yielded estimates of unbound and cercarial bound radioactivity that were equivalent or superior to estimates based on assay of washed cercariae and eliminated loss of cercariae. Washing of cercarial suspensions over 8 micrometers pore diameter Millipore filters was found to result in entanglement of 60-90% of the cercariae on the filter disc. Differential external radioassay, a new technique employing partial body shielding within a total body counter, permitted separate estimation of tail and body radioactivity of conscious mice previously exposed by tail immersion to 75Se-labelled cercariae, with measurements repeated as often as desired. Approximately 39% of the 75Se present in emergent cercariae was retained by schistosomula transformed in vitro but this was subject to considerable variation, especially in schistosomula transformed in vivo. Secreted or catabolized label from penetrant cercariae and schistosomula was rapidly removed from the skin by the bloodstream. Numbers of schistosomula in tail skin were directly proportional to the number of reduced silver foci counted on tail autoradiograms; only a very small fraction of tail radioactivity represented unbound ('spurious') label. Migration of schistosomula away from skin was 50% complete at 3.8-4.3 days, as determined by probit analysis of autoradiographic data.

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The circular and longitudinal muscle coats of equine "midcolon" were found to be directly electrically coupled. They appear to act in concert, in healthy animals, as a pacemaker in the area of the large colon pelvic flexure, for retropulsive-propulsive myoelectrical events. The retropulsive events keep the cecum and right ventral and left ventral divisions of the colon filled, imposing a delay time for fermentation of cellulose and for bacterial protein synthesis. Point-to-point involvement of adjacent colon sections was slowed by cooling the intestinal contents with no adverse clinical signs. Diminution of the blood flow to this regulatory area was achieved in 12 weanling foals (raised parasite-free) by parasitic cranial mesenteric arteritis, using Strongylus vulgaris larvae. Four of the 12 developed clinical signs of abdominal pain, but on necropsy 3 of these 4 had no gross lesions in the gastrointestinal tract. Dissociation of the left ventral and left dorsal colon divisions, as regards intraluminal pressure events and their antecedent myoelectrical action potentials, was induced in 7 of 8 adult animals given an acaricide which under field conditions is associated with progressive large colon obstruction and colic.

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