Treatment of mice infected with S. mansoni by various sterilants effective against male rodents produced phases of inhibition of schistosome oviposition assessed by miracidial counts. In the treated worms, besides apparent disappearance of the testes, marked involution of ovarian tissue occurred. The gonads of both male and female worms seem to be directly affected by the antifertility substances. It is suggested that gamete production in both sexes follows similar lines in contrast to the finite reservoir of meiotic oocytes in mammals.

The goal of this work is to report a novel assay that preserves antigenicity of extracts with high protease content without using enzymatic inhibitors. A great reduction of proteolytic activity in the insoluble chloroform/methanol and heated amoebic fraction (IC[ratio ]MC) was obtained by this method, even in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate and 2-mercaptoethanol. The substrates azo-casein and the hide powder azure were used to determine the reduction of proteolytic activity of IC[ratio ]MC compared with the activity of crude extract and crude extract with iodoacetamide. The IC[ratio ]MC SDS-PAGE pattern shows a higher quantity of bands than extract with the inhibitor iodoacetamide or than crude extract. In addition, anti-Entamoeba histolytica antibodies from amoebic liver abscess patients recognized a richer antigenic Western blot pattern in the IC[ratio ]MC fraction than in crude extract alone or with inhibitor. The described method has proved to be suitable to preserve amoebic antigens for its use in diagnostic tests and it can be used for immunological response studies against E. histolytica antigens. Furthermore we propose that this method to obtain the IC[ratio ]MC fraction can be applied for the study of other microorganisms or cells with high enzymatic content.

Finch trichomonosis is an emerging infectious disease affecting European passerines caused by a clonal strain of Trichomonas gallinae. Migrating chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) were proposed as the likely vector of parasite spread from Great Britain to Fennoscandia. To test for such parasite carriage, we screened samples of oesophagus/crop from 275 Apodiform, Passeriform and Piciform birds (40 species) which had no macroscopic evidence of trichomonosis (i.e. necrotic ingluvitis). These birds were found dead following the emergence of trichomonosis in Great Britain, 2009–2012, and were examined post-mortem. Polymerase chain reactions were used to detect (ITS1/5·8S rRNA/ITS2 region and single subunit rRNA gene) and to subtype (Fe-hydrogenase gene) T. gallinae. Trichomonas gallinae was detected in six finches [three chaffinches, two greenfinches (Chloris chloris) and a bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)]. Sequence data had 100% identity to the European finch epidemic A1 strain for each species. While these results are consistent with finches being vectors of T. gallinae, alternative explanations include the presence of incubating or resolved T. gallinae infections. The inclusion of histopathological examination would help elucidate the significance of T. gallinae infection in the absence of macroscopic lesions.

The following new species are described:

Pterygosoma sinaita sp.nov. (♀, ♂ nymph) off Agama sinaita, A. mutabilis and A. inermis.

P. adramitana sp.nov. (♀, ♂) off A. adramitana.

P. mutabilis sp.nov. (♀, ♂ nymph) off A. mutabilis, A. pallida, A. jayakari and A. inermis.

P. singularis sp.nov. (♀) off A. colonorum.

P. caucasica sp.nov. (♀, ♂ deutonymph, protonymph and larva) off A. caucasica.

P. foliosetis sp.nov. (♀, nymph) off Charasia dorsalis.

Descriptions are also included of the hitherto unrecorded male, nymph and larva of Geckobia hemidactylus Lawrence, 1936, from Hemidactylus mercatorius Gray from Ascension Island.

Infection with a myotropic Trypanosoma cruzi clone induces maternal fertility failure. In the current work, we evaluated whether reduction of maternal parasitaemia before mating has beneficial effects on pregnancy outcome. Female mice were subjected to benznidazole (Bz) treatment after infection. On day 30 of therapy, mating was assessed and pregnancy outcome was determined on day 14 of gestation. Fetal resorptions diminished in T. cruzi-infected Bz-treated mice compared with T. cruzi-infected untreated mice. This was in agreement with the reduction in the blood/solid tissue parasite load and with the percentage of necrotic foci in placental samples from T. cruzi-infected Bz-treated females. To study eventual changes in the immune homeostasis of T. cruzi-infected Bz-treated mice, activation of the immune system was evaluated at the end of Bz therapy and before mating. We found specific IgG1 reduction resulting in a predominance of specific IgG2a, reduced numbers of CD69+ CD4+ cells and diminished frequency and numbers of CD44+ T cells. Concanavalin A-stimulated splenocytes from T. cruzi-infected Bz-treated mice produced higher amounts of IFN-γ than T. cruzi-infected untreated mice. These results indicate that reduction of maternal parasite load improves pregnancy outcome. These findings correlate with a favourable modulation of the immune response.

Humoral immune responses of the Indian leaf monkey (Presbytis entellus) experimentally infected with Brugia malayi and exhibiting disease manifestations were studied. Microfilaraemia, filaria-specific IgG and circulating immune complexes (CICs) were determined in the monkeys at different time-points after inoculation of B. malayi 3rd-stage larvae. Sera were analysed for recognition pattern of adult parasite antigen molecules by immunoblotting. More than 60% of the infected monkeys developed episodic or persistent limb oedema with or without fever and with low or no microfilaraemia. While both CIC and filaria specific IgG levels were comparable in animals showing no disease symptoms (asymptomatics) and some animals showing symptoms (symptomatics), IgG levels peaked during pre-patent stage in symptomatics and during latent stage in asymptomatic animals. However, some of the symptomatic animals showed a low level of filaria-specific IgG as compared to asymptomatic and other symptomatic animals. The immunoblot analysis showed non-reactivity of 17 and 55 kDa antigens with sera of symptomatic animals. The results thus suggest that humoral immune responses as measured in the present study do not precede the development of the manifestations. However, 2 non-reactive antigen molecules identified by symptomatic sera need further study to establish their possible involvement, if any, in the development of acute disease manifestations in this model.

This paper reports on the influence of maternal exposure to Ascaris suum on worm burden distributions in experimentally infected piglets. In the first study, sows were inoculated before and during gestation (6 months, long-term exposure) with 10000 A. suum eggs twice weekly. In a second study, sows were inoculated during gestation only (3 months, short-term exposure) with increasing doses of eggs (10000–40000 eggs twice weekly). Helminth-naive sows served as controls in both studies. The third study used the same design as the short-term exposure study, but piglets from exposed and control sows were cross-suckled within 4 h of birth before colostrum uptake. All piglets were inoculated 2 or 3 times with 50 A. suum eggs on days 4 and 7 (and 14) after birth, and left with the sows. At 10 weeks of age all piglets were necropsied, and liver lesions and worm burdens were recorded. Surprisingly, in piglets born to long-term exposed sows, the prevalence of A. suum infection and the mean worm burden were significantly higher than those in piglets from control sows. In contrast, neither worm burdens nor prevalence were significantly different between piglets from short-term exposed sows compared with their controls. In the cross-suckling experiment, 67% of piglets suckling control sows harboured worms at slaughter, compared with 15%of piglets suckling exposed sows. Maximum likelihood analysis of worm burden distribution and the degree of parasite aggregation showed 3 distinctly different types of overdispersed distributions: worm counts in piglets from control sows, in piglets from short-term exposed sows and in piglets from long-term exposed sows. When the worm burden data were analysed including the cross-suckled piglets by biological mother, it appeared that the control and short-term distributions converged and that only the long-term exposure was significantly different. Overall, the degree of parasite aggregation in piglets infected with A. suum decreased with exposure of the sows. A non-linear relationship was observed between prevalence of infection and mean worm burden, which was different for piglets from exposed and control sows, and similar to relationships of this type that previously have been found in human A. lumbricoides infections. It was concluded that in porcine A. suum infections maternal exposure alters the distribution of worms in their offspring, in which the duration of exposure appeared to be an important influence. The results of the cross-suckling further suggest that maternal factors, e.g. antibodies, are transferred via colostrum.

It has long been known that ticks possess spermatozoa that differ considerably from the typical flagellate form. In similar cases science has always attempted to trace the aberrant type back to the normal with a view to identifying its constituent parts. Many forms, even those which at first sight appear incapable of being compared with the normal, have recently been thoroughly analysed in this manner. On the other hand there occur several types of spermium whose parts it is impossible to compare with those of the normal type and in these instances all that can be done is to identify the elements that take part in the fertilization, viz. the nucleus and centrosome.

1. The results of previous workers on the action of plasmoquine on avian malaria, Plasmodium relictum (Grassi and Feletti, 1891), have been confirmed and extended. Sterilisation was obtained in a large proportion of birds (16 out of 33) treated during the normal incubation period.

2. Thirteen new synthetic quinoline compounds were found to have antimalarial action.

3. Two of these compounds, R 25 = 8-γ-aminopropylamino-6-ethoxy-quinoline and R 36 = 8-γ-anunopropylamino-6-methoxyquinoline, have therapeutic indices of 1: 16, are nearly equal to plasmoquine in potency and resemble it in action.

4. A third compound, R 44 = 8-γ-aminopropylamino-6-n-butoxyquino-line, has a therapeutic index of only 1 : 8, but its sterilising action is equal to or greater than plasmoquine, R 25 and R 36.

5. The remaining compounds have therapeutic indices of 1 : 8 or 1 : 4 and vary in their sterilising action.

6. Experiments are described which show the formation of methaemo-globin in vitro through the action of plasmoquine, R 25 and R 36. In this respect the order of activity of the compounds is R 36, R 25, plasmoquine.

A description is given of the external features of the scolex and strobila and the anatomy of the proglottid of Acanthobothrium pearsoni sp.nov. found in the intestine of Orectolobus maculatus Bon. In view of the similarity in host distribution and anatomy to that of Biporophyllaeus madrassensis Subramanian some comments are made on the status of the order Biporophyllaeidea and it is suggested that B. madrassensis may be a proglottid of a species of Acanthobothrium.

The Enenteridae Yamaguti, 1958 and Gyliauchenidae Fukui, 1929 exhibit an interesting pattern of host partitioning in herbivorous fishes of the Indo-West Pacific. Enenterids are known almost exclusively from fishes of the family Kyphosidae, a group of herbivorous marine fishes common on tropical and temperate reefs. In contrast, gyliauchenids are found in most of the remaining lineages of marine herbivorous fishes, but until the present study, had never been known from kyphosids. Here we report on the first species of gyliauchenid known from a kyphosid. Endochortophagus protoporus gen. nov., sp. nov. was recovered from the Western buffalo bream, Kyphosus cornelii (Whitley, 1944), collected off Western Australia. Kyphosus cornelii also hosts an enenterid, Koseiria allanwilliamsi Bray & Cribb, 2002, and is thus the first fish known in which enenterids and gyliauchenids co-occur. Molecular phylogenetic analyses place the new species close to those of Affecauda Hall & Chambers, 1999 and Flagellotrema Ozaki, 1936, but there is sufficient morphological evidence, combined with the unusual host, to consider it distinct from these genera. We discuss factors which may have contributed to the host partitioning pattern observed between enenterids and gyliauchenids.

We studied the effect of density on feeding success of 2 fleas, Xenopsylla conformis and Xenopsylla ramesis, when exploiting rodents Meriones crassus and Gerbillus dasyurus. We tested 2 alternative hypotheses: (i) that intraspecific interference competition occurs and, thus, feeding success of a flea decreases with an increase in density and (ii) that facilitation via suppression of a host defence system occurs and thus, feeding success of a flea increases with an increase in density. The mean size of a bloodmeal and the proportion of highly engorged individuals in X. conformis feeding on both hosts were affected by density. When on G. dasyurus, both the size of a bloodmeal and the proportion of highly engorged individuals were lower at low (5–15 fleas per host) than at high (25–50 fleas per host) densities. The opposite was true when this flea fed on M. crassus. The mean bloodmeal size and proportions of highly engorged X. ramesis parasitizing either host were not affected by flea density. This study showed that the density dependence of feeding success of a flea (a) varied both between fleas and within-fleas between hosts and (b) indicated either intraspecific competition or facilitation via the host in a particular flea-host association.

Within populations of the amphipod crustaceans Orchestia gammarellus and Orchestia aestuarensis, a proportion of females produce thelygenic (female-only) broods, which often contain intersexual individuals. This phenomenon is associated with the presence of two putative feminizing parasites, the paramyxid Paramarteilia orchestiae and the microsporidian Dictyocoela cavimanum, which frequently co-infect the same host. In order to determine which of the parasites causes feminization, Orchestia were resampled from the type locality of P. orchestiae in France and from another population in the UK. Breeding experiments indicated that female O. gammarellus infected with P. orchestiae produced a significantly higher proportion of female and intersex offspring than uninfected females, even in the absence of D. cavimanum. There was no difference in mortality between infected and uninfected broods, indicating that the paramyxid alters the sex ratio through feminization rather than male-killing. Although D. cavimanum also displays a female-biased prevalence in Orchestia populations, this is due to co-infection with P. orchestiae, indicating that the paramyxid, rather than the microsporidian, is the cause of feminization in these Orchestia populations.

The levels of erythrocyte membrane sialic acid from 17 patients with Plasmodium falciparum malaria and 1 with Plasmodium vivax malaria, in Papua New Guinea, have been compared with 9 uninfected controls. The amounts of radioactivity incorporated into the major erythrocyte glycoproteins by the periodate/NaB3H4 or galactose oxidase plus neuraminidase/NaB3H4 methods were unchanged by malaria infection. The electrophoretic mobilities of these proteins also were unaffected. Several new glycoprotein bands with molecular weights (mol. wt) of 160000, 89000, 46000, 42000 and 33000 Daltons were labelled on the surface of erythrocytes from infected individuals; however, none of these bands appeared in all malarious samples. Sialic acid levels on the erythrocyte membrane were also measured by exhaustive neuraminidase treatment and quantitative assay of released sialic acid. The amount of sialic acid was raised in 1 infected individual, within the normal range for Europeans in 4 others, and below this range with 3 patients. Apparently, extensive removal or modification of sialic acid on the surface of uninfected erythrocytes does not occur in human malaria, in contrast to the results obtained in earlier studies with the lethal murine malarias.

1. Blood-stream forms of Trypanosoma brucei ‘O’ strain from infected rats were separated from the blood by differential centrifugation. After washing, the trypanosomes were suspended in modified Ringer-phosphate solution with 0·2m glucose, and normal or immune rabbit serum was added. The oxygen uptake of such trypanosome suspensions was measured at 37° C. for 2 hr. with differential manometers using microflasks of 5 ml. capacity.

2. Immune sera that affected the motility of the trypanosomes also caused a decrease in oxygen uptake.

3. Some trypanosomes appeared to be unaffected by the less active concentrations of immune sera, while other trypanosomes in the same suspension were clumped together or lysed.

4. The most active serum inhibited oxygen uptake less at the highest concentration tested (1/4·5) than at lower concentrations (1/9 and 1/20).

5. This technique was less sensitive than Soltys's method (1957) for demonstrating neutralizing antibodies in the same sera.

Lambs contract Moniezia infection either at or very soon after birth, since they have been observed to harbour adult worms at 2–3 months old and in one case, to pass proglottids at 4–6 weeks.

The intermediate host, if such exists, must be frequent on the pasture in early spring, otherwise lambs would not be found to harbour adult tapeworms so regularly or in such numbers when slaughtered in early summer. In the small intestine of a lamb from 3–4 months old slaughtered at Aberystwyth, there occurred 75 individuals.

The fact that lambs regularly harbour adult tapeworms before they are weaned suggests the possibility of their contracting the infection from the mother-ewes. No direct evidence in this direction has been obtained, however, and an attempt to produce a larval stage in the udder region of a ewe by feeding to it the eggs of a tapeworm proved abortive.

Hitherto, all attempts to produce the adult tapeworms directly by feeding the eggs to sheep have failed; there is, however, the remote possibility that the eggs require to undergo some kind of maturation process outside the body of the sheep before they will develop. The fact that several species of Moniezia occur in the domestic sheep would seem to require an intermediate stage, which would occur in a corresponding number of intermediate-host species.

The disease seems prevalent in flocks which are singularly free from ectoparasites.

The invertebrates which seem most likely to harbour an intermediate stage are coprophagous insects, etc. (beetles, flies, mites). Attempts to infect species of Aphodius have nevertheless proved fruitless.

Moisture favours the survival of the eggs of Moniezia: eggs kept in water for a period of several months seemed to remain perfectly viable. Nevertheless tapeworm is common among flocks on pastures about Rome which are characteristically dry.

A comprehensive series of experiments under conditions of the most complete control would almost certainly clear up the life-history; on economic grounds alone the problem is urgent.

The overwhelming majority of a quantity of worms collected from slaughter-houses in Aberystwyth, Aberdeen, Beauly (Inverness-shire) and Newcastle-on-Tyne proved to be of the species M. expansa. The only other species found were M. trigonophora and M. alba. The identification was based on anatomical characters and not on externals, which are useless.

The writer intends directing his attention to coprophagous mites as carriers, viz. Gamasus coleoptratorum, G. fimetorum, Macrocheles glaber.

The intraspecific diversity of Neospora caninum is a determinant for in vivo parasite virulence and in vitro parasite behaviour. The relationship between isolate virulence and specific antibody responses against key parasite proteins has not been well characterized. The response kinetics and the differences in specific anti-rNcGRA7, -rNcSAG4, -rNcBSR4 and -rNcSRS9 antibody levels were analysed by recombinant protein-based ELISA in groups of mice inoculated with 10 different N. caninum isolates that differ in their virulence. The majority of the virulence parameters analysed correlated with the specific antibody levels against the 4 recombinant proteins. The antibodies developed against the highly immunogenic protein NcGRA7 were significantly higher in mice inoculated with high virulence isolates than in those inoculated with low-to-moderate virulence isolates in both non-pregnant and pregnant mouse models. Moreover, these levels were correlated with the anti-N. caninum IgG1 and IgG2a responses and the in vitro tachyzoite yield at 56 h. The antibodies directed against the bradyzoite-specific proteins were not detected in a non-pregnant mouse model. However, some seropositive mice were found in groups inoculated with high virulence isolates in a pregnant mouse model. NcGRA7 and NcSAG4 are proteins clearly correlated with virulence, and to a lesser extent NcBSR4 and NcSRS9 proteins. Moreover, antibodies to bradyzoite-specific proteins appear to also be related to virulence in mice. Further analyses should be performed in order to verify the usefulness of these proteins as predictive markers for virulence in an experimental bovine model of neosporosis.

The fine structure of trophozoites, schizonts, merozoites and macrogamonts of Eimeria acervulina found in goblet cells of the duodenal epithelium of chicks is described and compared with the corresponding stages formed in other epithelial cells. Complete schizogony, with the formation of mature merozoites, occurred freely in goblet cells. Developing macrogamonts (but no microgamonts) were rarely found in goblet cells.The stages observed were confined to the cytoplasm of the host cell above the Golgi apparatus and were usually seen between the mucous granules. The stages seen appeared normal, and contained similar structures to corresponding stages developing in other cells.The finding of developing stages of E. acervulina in goblet cells provides further evidence that site specificity of Eimeria at the cellular level is not as strict as previously thought.