Emerging Infectious Diseases Vol. 6, No. 4, July–August 2000 430 During a survey of parasitic helminths of wild vertebrates from Tres Palos Lagoon, in Guerrero, Mexico, we found Gnathostoma sp. advanced third-stage larvae (AdvL3) in the skeletal muscle of several fish species. Fish were caught from March to August 1999 in Tres Palos Lagoon (16° 41' to 16° 50'N and 99° 37' to 99° 47'W), Acapulco...

Although it is a common infestation in the Asian region, human gnathostomiasis due to the third stage larvae of Gnathostoma species has not been reported in Sri Lanka up to now (1). The definitive hosts of this nematode are felids and canids, the former being particularly important. Humans are aberrant hosts and the disease is characterised by peripheral eosinophilia and a variety of local mani...

From April 1997 through April 1998, 128 raccoons (Procyon lotor (Linnaeus)) collected from 7 sites representing 4 physiographic areas in South Carolina were examined for gastrointestinal helminth parasites. Four species of nematodes (Gnathostoma procyonis (Chandler), Physaloptera rara Hall and Wigdor, Arthrocephahis lotoris (Schwartz), and Molineus barhatus Chandler) and 2 species of acanthocep...

We report our experience with Gnathostoma protein preparation by the ultrafiltration method. Crude antigen was sonicated and ultrafiltrated using the Nanosep 100 K membrane. SDS-PAGE electrophoresis showed protein bands at 43, 41, 24, 22, 21, 19.5 kDa. Use of the ultrafiltration method can provide specific protein (24 kDa), similar to the non-ultrafiltration method, with the other 5 non-specifi...

Teleost fishes have extra Hox gene clusters owing to shared or lineage-specific genome duplication events in rayfinned fish (actinopterygian) phylogeny. Hence, extrapolating between genome function of teleosts and human or even between different fish species is difficult. We have sequenced and analyzed Hox gene clusters of the Senegal bichir (Polypterus senegalus), an extant representative of t...