title: Egg production of Oesophagostomum bifurcum, a locally common parasite of humans in Togo.
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.
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Health, Lome and Dapaong, Togo, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Krepel
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Polderman
mesh_terms: D000723:Ancylostomatoidea / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000818:Animals; D002400:Cathartics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007814:Larva / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009814:Oesophagostomiasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000469:parasitology*; D009815:Oesophagostomum / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D010058:Oviposition; D010270:Parasite Egg Count; D011716:Pyrantel Pamoate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014037:Togo
chemical_list: D002400:Cathartics; D011716:Pyrantel Pamoate