The effects of crowding on adults of Echinostoma revolutum (Digenea: Echinostomatidae) in experimentally infected golden hamsters, Mesocricetus auratus

• Published in: The Journal of parasitology 1988-04, Vol.74 (2), p.240-243
• Main Authors: Franco, José, Huffman, Jane E., Fried, Bernard
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Cecum; Cricetinae; Crowding; Cysts; Developmental biology; Dosage; echinostoma; Echinostoma - growth & development; Echinostoma - physiology; Echinostomiasis - parasitology; Ecology; Eggs; fecondite; fecundidad; fecundity; Female; Fertility; Golden hamsters; hamster; hamsters; intestin; Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic - parasitology; intestines; Intestines - parasitology; intestinos; madurez; maturite; maturity; Memory interference; Mesocricetus; Parasitism; parasitisme; parasitismo; Parasitology; Trematode Infections - parasitology; Worms
• ISSN: 0022-3395; 1937-2345
• DOI: 10.2307/3282449

All 30 female golden hamsters, Mesocricetus auratus, fed either 125 ± 50 (group A), 300 ± 50 (group B), or 500 ± 50 (group C) metacercarial cysts of Echinostoma revolutum were infected 7-35 days postexposure. The mean number of worms in A, B, and C were 62, 96, and 212, respectively. Most of the worms in A were in the jejunum, but in C worms were about equally distributed in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, and some were in the cecum. The body area and wet and dry weights of worms from C were significantly less than that of A or B at 2, 4, and 5 wk postinfection. Echinostoma revolutum eggs were in the feces of 100% of the hamsters by days 12, 13, and 14 in A, B, and C, respectively.