Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T06:14:45.093Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Infection of dogs by Toxocara canis carried by flies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Elizabeth J. Pegg
Elizabeth J. Pegg
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, The Royal Veterinary College, Royal College Street, London, N. W. 1
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Attempts were made to infect Stomoxys calcitrans, Lucilia sericata and Musca domestica with embryonated eggs of Toxocara canis and Toxascaris leonina. Only Musca domestica was successfully infected with Toxocara canis eggs.

Six Beagle pups were given anthelmintic treatment and infected flies were then fed to five of them. The five pups were examined at varying intervals, the sixth being used as a control. Four of the experimentally infected pups showed evidence post-mortem of having become infected with Toxocara canis by the ingestion of Musca domestica. Larvae of Toxocara canis were recovered from several tissues. Immature and adult forms were recovered from the intestinal contents. The results suggest that flies of Musca domestica are not only a source of infection to the dog, but that they may be of importance in the spread of toxocariasis in man.

I would like to thank Professor A. O. Betts and Dr W. P. Beresford-Jones for their encouragement and helpful criticism and also Mr G. Yeoman and Mr B. C. Warren of Beecham Research Laboratories, Wheathampstead, for their assistance and for the supply of flies. I am also very grateful to Mr and Mrs D. Appleton, Carmarthenshire, Wales for their co-operation in treating and supplying the beagle pups.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , June 1971 , pp. 409 - 414
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ishii, T. (1959). Studies on larva migrans, hatchability of Toxocara canis in the earthworm. Japanese Journal of Parasitology 8, 659–63.Google Scholar
Kirkwood, A. (1960). A technique for breeding the house-fly. Laboratory Practice 9, 710–11.Google Scholar
Kirkwood, A. (1966). Culture of the sheep blowfly Lucilia sericata. Parasitology 56, 19p.Google Scholar
Graham-Smith, G. S. (1913). Flies in Relation to Disease. Non-Bloodsucking Flies. Cambridge Public Health Series, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Imms, A. D. (1957). A General Textbook of Entomology 9th ed.London: Methuen and Co. Ltd.Google Scholar
Sprent, J. F. A. (1952). On the migratory behaviour of the larvae of various Ascaris species in white mice. I. Distribution of larvae in tissues. Journal of Infectious Diseases 90, 165–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sprent, J. F. A. (1958). Observations on the development of Toxocara canis (Werner, 1782) in the dog. Parasitology 48, 184–209.Google Scholar
Sprent, J. F. A. (1961). Post-parturient infection of the bitch with Toxocara canis. Journal of Parasitology 47, 284.Google Scholar