AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON A NEW FINAL HOST OF GNATHOSTOMA SPINIGERUM

• Published in: Kurume medical journal Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 11 - 23
• Main Author: SHIRAKAWA, MITSURU
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kurume University School of Medicine 1959
• ISSN: 0023-5679; 1881-2090
• DOI: 10.2739/kurumemedj.6.11

The final hosts of Gnathostoma spinigerum in cats and dogs were confirmed in the natural infection and the experimental infection, but cases of natural and experimental infections were not found in the fox.In the infection of cats and dogs, it was said to take three to five months to experimentally evacuate the eggs in the feces after ingesting the larvas; but in this experiment, as an examination of the stool was not done after administering the larvas, the beginning time of the egg evacuation was not confirmed.In the case of the fox, however, in a manner similar to the cases of cats and dogs, a typical stomach tumor was grown at just the same part, and the imagines were kept inside the tumor opened to the stomach hollow. These closely resembled the former two, and this was thought to be natural, judging from their zoological familiarity in their categories.No parasite was found in the hemorrhagic necrosis at the mesentery adhering to the outside wall of the small intestine, and the cause of the growth of the hemorrhagic necrosis was not found. It was thought that this necrosis was perhaps a disorder caused by the movement of the larvas, and this was substantiated by the findings of the mosaic figures on the surface of the lower lobule of the liver.The detection of the fertilized eggs of Gnathostoma spinigerum in the feces confirmed the facts that the imagines in the tumor had matured, and the males and the females continued to live.The parasitic fleas on the body of the fox were ascertained to be dog fleas.