Article
Co-infections of the cestode Echinococcus vogeli and the nematode Calodium hepaticum in the hystricomorphic rodent Agouti paca from a forest reserve in Acre, Brazil
Registro en:
ALMEIDA, F. et al. Co-infections of the cestode Echinococcus vogeli and the nematode Calodium hepaticum in the hystricomorphic rodent Agouti paca from a forest reserve in Acre, Brazil. Journal of Helminthology, v.87, n.4, p.489–493, Dec. 2013.
0022-149X
10.1017/S0022149X12000661
1475-2697
Autor
Almeida, F.
Caldas, R.
Corrêa, C.
Silva, R. Rodrigues
Siqueira, N.
Silva, J. R. Machado
Resumen
The helminth fauna of Agouti paca (Linnaeus, 1766) has seldom been studied.
In this paper, we report an unusual mixed infection of Echinococcus vogeli Rausch
& Bernstein, 1972 and Calodium hepaticum (syn. Capillaria hepatica Bancroft, 1863)
in free-ranging paca from a forested region in Acre (Brazil). Gross morphological
examination revealed that paca liver contained multiple spherical to
subspherical white or translucent lesions, which were isolated or frequently
contiguous and partially covered by Glisson’s capsule. Microscopic examination
revealed unilocular cystic structures that contained abundant brood capsules in
which numerous protoscolices budded from the inner surface. The protoscolices
possessed rostellar hooks (33–41mm in length), a morphological characteristic
of the blade and calcareous corpuscles that is consistent with the metacestode
E. vogeli. The diagnosis of C. hepaticum infection was based on the morphology
and morphometry of the egg-shaped ellipsoids with bipolar plugs (44.8
^ 1.9 mm (length) £ 24.4 ^ 2.0 mm (width)) and liver histopathology. This
finding expands the known range of C. hepaticum hosts in South America and,
to the best of our knowledge, it is the first case of a mixed infection of E. vogeli
and C. hepaticum. Furthermore, our data provide evidence that wild animal meat
may be a source of C. hepaticum infection.