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Dracunculus insignis: experimental infection in the ferret, Mustela putorius furo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2009

M. L. Eberhard ,
E. Ruiz-Tiben  and
S. V. Wallace
M. L. Eberhard
Affiliation:
Parasitic Diseases Branch, Division of Parasitic Diseases, Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA;the WHO Collaborating Center for Research, Training and Control of Dracunculiasis, Centers for Disease Control
E. Ruiz-Tiben
Affiliation:
Parasitic Diseases Branch, Division of Parasitic Diseases, Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA;the WHO Collaborating Center for Research, Training and Control of Dracunculiasis, Centers for Disease Control
S. V. Wallace
Affiliation:
Parasitic Diseases Branch, Division of Parasitic Diseases, Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA;the WHO Collaborating Center for Research, Training and Control of Dracunculiasis, Centers for Disease Control
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Abstract

The laboratory study of dracunculiasis has suffered from the lack of a suitable, readily available animal model. We have been able to experimentally infect ferrets, Mustela putorius furo, with the North American dracunculid, Dracunculus insignis. Ferrets were inoculated with 75 to 100 infective larvae and were necropsied 90 to 240 days later. Guinea worms were recovered from 10 (56%) of 18 ferrets. A total of 44 worms were recovered, for an average of 4.4 worms per infected ferret. Gravid female worms were recovered as early as 128 days postinoculation. Thirteen (87%) of 15 gravid female worms were recovered from the extremities. Living male worms were recovered at 200 days of age, indicating that not all male worms die shortly after mating. First-stage larvae recovered from gravid females as early as 200 days of age were found to be infective to the copepod. Acanthocyclops vernalis. These observations suggest that the ferret is an excellent laboratory animal for dracunculiasis research.

Keywords

Dracunculus insignisMustela putorius furoanimal model
Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Helminthology , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , September 1988 , pp. 265 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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