Transmission of Diphyllobothrium erinaceieuropei from fox to dog.

VENTURINI L.; BASSO W.; MORÉ G.; VENTURINI M.C.

Christchurch, Nueva Zelanda

Congreso; The 20th International Conference of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology ( WAAVP); 2005

Adult Diphyllobothrium erinaceieuropei lives in small intestine of dogs and cats in Argentina, cestodes morphologically identical were found in silvatic animals and sparganosis was reported in humans. Diphyllobothrium erinaceieuropei  infection was transmitted previously from dog to dog .The aim of this study was to transmit the infection by a Diphyllobothrium erinaceieuropei like cestode from a silvatic fox to a domestic dog. Diphyllobothrium erinaceieuropei like cestodes were found in the small intestine of a wild fox hunted in La Pampa Province. Eggs were collected from proglotids and incubated in Petri dishes with tap water, at room temperature. Paracyclops fimbriatus and Bufo arenarum tadpoles, cestode infection free were kept separately in aquariums. Fourteen days later, eggs with coracidia inside were added to the recipients with Paracyclops fimbriatus and when procercoids were detected in them, 13 tadpoles were added in same recipient. After seven days, 17, 2, 2, 1, 4, 4, 0, 6, 2 plerocercoids were collected from each of 9 tadpoles, and 12, 9 and 2 plerocercoids were given to each of three Balb-c mice. Mice were killed 80 days after infection and  had not plerocercoids. The remaining tadpoles were kept in the same recipient; three of them died and were eaten by the last one that died 41 days after infection. This tadpole was given to a dog, free of helminth infections . After 28 days, Diphyllobothrium erinaceieuropei eggs were recovered from faeces of the dog. The transmission of Diphyllobothrium erinaceieuropei from fox to dog confirm that the same species infects both hosts.