Attempts to find a laboratory host for Parelaphostrongylus andersoni and Parelaphostrongylus odocoilei (Nematoda: Protostrongylidae)

Abstract

Twenty guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) and eight domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) were each exposed to 100 or 200 third-stage larvae of Parelaphostrongylus andersoni or Parelaphostrongylus odocoilei. A few larvae penetrated the stomach and caecal walls and were found in the mesentery, liver, and diaphragm. However, most were recovered from the lungs and pleurae of the pleural cavity. Larvae did not appear to grow or develop and they did not reach the skeletal muscles, the usual site of adult P. andersoni and P. odocoilei in deer. All larvae in tissues were encapsulated (after 36 days) and overcome (after 59 days) by a local host response. Larvae appeared to migrate via the circulatory system and by direct penetration of tissues and organs. Patent infections were not found in three domestic goats (Capra hircus) up to 101 days after exposure to 300 or 1000 third-stage larvae of P. odocoilei.