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Dracunculus insignis : experimental infection in the ferret, Mustela putorius furo

1988; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 62; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0022149x00011640

1475-2697

Mark L. Eberhard, Ernesto Ruiz‐Tiben, S. V. Wallace,

Parasitic Diseases Research and Treatment

ABSTRACT The laboratory study of dracunculiasis has suffered from the lack of a suitable, readily available animal model. We have been able to experimentally infect ferrets, Mustela putorius furo , with the North American dracunculid, Dracunculus insignis . Ferrets were inoculated with 75 to 100 infective larvae and were necropsied 90 to 240 days later. Guinea worms were recovered from 10 (56%) of 18 ferrets. A total of 44 worms were recovered, for an average of 4.4 worms per infected ferret. Gravid female worms were recovered as early as 128 days postinoculation. Thirteen (87%) of 15 gravid female worms were recovered from the extremities. Living male worms were recovered at 200 days of age, indicating that not all male worms die shortly after mating. First-stage larvae recovered from gravid females as early as 200 days of age were found to be infective to the copepod. Acanthocyclops vernalis . These observations suggest that the ferret is an excellent laboratory animal for dracunculiasis research.