Cystacanths of the acanthocephalan Bolbosoma balaenae (Gmelin, 1790) were found encapsulated in the cephalothorax of the euphausiid Nyctiphanes couchii (Bell, 1853) from temperate waters in the NE Atlantic Ocean. Euphausiids were caught in locations outside the Ría de Vigo in Galicia, NW Spain, and prevalence of infection was up to 0.1%. The parasite was identified by morphological characters. ...

Populations of North American waterbirds, particularly lesser scaup, have been declining due to habitat disturbance, changing food resources, contaminants, bad water quality, and competition. However, epizootic diseases, including parasitism, may also play an important role in further decline. Trematode-associated mortality of migrating waterbirds, mainly American coot and lesser scaup, has bee...

We constructed a mathematical model for the transmission of Schistosoma mekongi in Cambodia. The simulation of the model will be instrumental in planning schistosomiasis control measures. The model includes two definitive hosts, humans and dogs, as animal reservoirs. Dogs are recognized to play an important role in schistosomiasis transmission in Cambodia. For the purpose of dealing with age-sp...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the endemic characteristics of Metorchis orientalis (M. orientalis)in the Huainan area, Anhui province, China. METHODS The first-intermediate host, second-intermediate host and reservoir hosts were collected, and the endemic characteristics of M. orientalis were examined through field investigation and artificial infection. RESULTS Investigation was completed in 89 ...

The life cycle of the cestode Echinococcus multilocularis primarily involves canids and small mammals (rodents, lagomorphs) as definitive and intermediate hosts, respectively. Several surveys have identified marked temporal and geographical variations at different scales in the parasite's prevalence in both types of hosts, suggesting variations in the biological and ecological factors that cont...

Many parasites engaged in complex life cycles manipulate their hosts in a way that facilitates transmission between hosts. Recently, a new category of parasites (hitch-hikers) has been identified that seem to exploit the manipulating effort of other parasites with similar life cycle by preferentially infecting hosts already manipulated. Thomas et al. (Evolution 51 (1997) 1316) showed that the d...

The fox tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis is typically perpetuated in a cycle with red foxes as definitive hosts and various rodent species as intermediate hosts. In this study, foxes were baited with a highly efficient drug against cestodes (praziquantel) in 5 blocks of 1 km2. Voles, Arvicola terrestris, the most abundant intermediate host species, were trapped in the 5 baited blocks and in...

Recently, the systematic use of the molecular approach as a complement to the other approaches (morphology, biology, life cycle) has brought help for the identification of species considered as different in the past to be regrouped and synonymised, and distinctions to be drawn between species similar at the morphological level. Among these species, we tried to clarify the situation of Trichobil...

Sheep is the intermediate host of the protozoan parasite Sarcocystis tenella, while the dog is its definitive host. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of natural infection with S. tenella in slaughtered Korean native goat, Capra hircus coreanae, in the Republic of Korea. H-E stained heart tissues were investigated for the presence of sarcocysts. Of the 103 goats, three (2.91%)...

Parasitism is increasingly recognized as an important determinant of population dynamics, productivity and community structure in intertidal ecosystems, and yet there is very little known about the effect of parasites on polychaetes, which represent a major component of the benthic fauna. We surveyed 11 polychaete species from a mudflat in Otago Harbour, New Zealand, and found that seven of the...