Egg production of Oesophagostomum bifurcum, a locally common parasite of humans in Togo

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1992 Apr;46(4):469-72. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1992.46.469.

Abstract

In northern Togo and northeastern Ghana, Oesophagostomum bifurcum is a common parasite in humans. Diagnosis is based on coproculture because the eggs of hookworm and Oesophagostomum are indistinguishable. To determine the level of egg production, 12 subjects were treated with 2 x 10 mg/kg of pyrantel pamoate and the worms they evacuated were then counted. Pretreatment and post-treatment species-specific egg counts were calculated on the basis of larval and total egg counts. The median worm burden was 81 (range 12-300) per person. The calculated median egg production was 33.7 egg/gram of feces per female worm. Assuming a total daily stool production of 150 g/day, this amounts to 5,055 eggs/day, which is comparable with the production of other nematodes of the same superfamily.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Ancylostomatoidea / isolation & purification
  • Animals
  • Cathartics / therapeutic use
  • Feces / parasitology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Larva / isolation & purification
  • Oesophagostomiasis / drug therapy
  • Oesophagostomiasis / parasitology*
  • Oesophagostomum / isolation & purification
  • Oesophagostomum / physiology*
  • Oviposition*
  • Parasite Egg Count
  • Pyrantel Pamoate / therapeutic use
  • Togo

Substances

  • Cathartics
  • Pyrantel Pamoate