Human toxocariasis is a helminthic zoonosis caused by larval stages of Toxocara canis and, less frequently, by T. cati, the roundworms of dogs and cats, respectively. Accidentally, humans ingest embryonated eggs containing the infective larva which are released in the upper small intestine and then pass through the intestinal epithelium to reach the blood vessels, where they can migrate to the ...

Despite being central to parasite establishment and subsequent host pathological and immunologic responses, host-parasite interactions during early third-stage filarial larva (L3) migration are poorly understood. These studies aimed to define early tissue migration of Brugia pahangi L3 in the gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) and measure host cellular responses during this period. Gerbils were int...

Nematode parasites of warm-blooded hosts use chemical and thermal signals in host-finding and in the subsequent resumption of development. The free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a useful model for investigating the chemo- and thermosensory neurons of such parasites, because the functions of its amphidial neurons are well known from laser microbeam ablation studies. The neurons found...

Rhabditis cutanea n. sp., a new larval-parasitic species from the skin of Apodemus sylvaticus, is described. Cross-mating experiments revealed isolation from R. nidicolis Sudhaus & Schulte, 1986, R. orbitalis Sudhaus & Schulte, 1986, and R. strongyloides (Schneider, 1860). There are two modifications of third stage larvae named " dauerlarva " and infective larva ". It is hypothesized that the l...

Filarial parasites suppress, divert, or polarize the host immune response to aid their survival. However, mechanisms that govern the polarization of host MΦs during early filarial infection are not completely understood. In this study, we infected BALB/c mice with infective larvae stage-3 of Brugia malayi (Bm-L3) and studied their effect on the polarization of splenic MΦs. Results showed that M...

Necator americanus, a haematophagous hookworm parasite, infects ~10% of the world's population and is considered to be a significant public health risk. Its lifecycle has distinct stages, permitting its successful transit from the skin via the lungs (L3) to the intestinal tract (L4 maturing to adult). It has been hypothesised that the L3 larval sheath, which is shed during percutaneous infectio...

BACKGROUND The World Health Organization (WHO) aims at eliminating onchocerciasis by 2020 in selected African countries. Current control focuses on community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI). In Ghana, persistent transmission has been reported despite long-term control. We present spatial and temporal patterns of onchocerciasis transmission in relation to ivermectin treatment history. ...

Differential transcription in Ascaris suum was investigated using a genomic-bioinformatic approach. A cDNA archive enriched for molecules in the infective third-stage larva (L3) of A. suum was constructed by suppressive-subtractive hybridization (SSH), and a subset of cDNAs from 3075 clones subjected to microarray analysis using cDNA probes derived from RNA from different developmental stages o...

Over one-year period, 150 pasture soil samples and 138 sheep faecal samples, collected from different parts of Iran were screened for the presence of nematophagous fungi. The samples were cultured at 25ºC on chloramphenicol-2% water agar (CHF-WA) plates in the presence of Haemonchus contortus third stage larvae (L3) and checked over a two-month period for characteristic conidia, conidiophores a...