Zoonotic onchocerciasis caused by a parasite from wild boar in Oita, Japan: A comprehensive analysis of morphological characteristics of the worms for its diagnosis

• Published in: Parasite (Paris) Vol. 11; no. 3; pp. 285 - 292
• Main Authors: TAKAOKA, H, BAIN, O, DAA, T, UNI, S, KORENAGA, M, KOZEK, W. J, SHIRASAKA, C, AOKI, C, OTSUKA, Y, FUKUDA, M, ESHITA, Y
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Paris Princeps 01.09.2004
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Wild - parasitology; Biological and medical sciences; Diseases caused by nematodes; Female; Filariases; Helminthic diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Japan - epidemiology; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Onchocerca - anatomy & histology; Onchocerca - classification; Onchocerca - isolation & purification; Onchocerciasis - diagnosis; Onchocerciasis - epidemiology; Onchocerciasis - transmission; Onchocercosis; Parasitic diseases; Phylogeny; Sus scrofa - parasitology; Swine Diseases - epidemiology; Swine Diseases - parasitology; Swine Diseases - transmission; Zoonoses; Asia; Japan; Diagnosis (taxonomy); Parasite; Parasitosis; Wild animal; Zoonosis; Helminthiasis; Onchocerciasis; Infection; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Histopathology; Morphology; Nematode disease; Helmintha; Transmission from animal to man; Nemathelminthia; Artiodactyla; Filariosis; Invertebrata; Nematoda; Sus scrofa; Ungulata
• ISSN: 1252-607X; 1776-1042
• DOI: 10.1051/parasite/2004113285

Histological examination of a nodule removed from the back of the hand of a 58-year-old woman from Oita, Kyushu, Japan showed an Onchocerca female sectioned through the posterior region of the worm (ovaries identifiable) and young (thin cuticle). Six Onchocerca species are enzootic in that area: O. gutturosa and O. lienalis in cattle, O. suzukii in serows (Capricornis crispus), O. skrjabini and an Onchocerca sp. in Cervus nippon nippon, and O. dewittei japonica in wild boar (Sus scrofa leucomystax). Diagnostic characters of female Onchocerca species, such as the cuticle and its ridges, change along the body length. Tables of the histologic morphology of the mid- and posterior body-regions of the local species are presented. In addition, it was observed that transverse ridges arose and thickened during the adult stage (examination of fourth stage and juvenile females of O. volvulus). The specimen described in this report, with its prominent and widely spaced ridges, was identified as O. d. japonica. Four of the 10 zoonotic cases of onchocerciasis reported worldwide were from Oita, three of them being caused by O. d. japonica, the prevalence of which in local wild boar was 22 of 24 (92%).