The effects of crowding on adults of Echinostoma revolutum (Digenea: Echinostomatidae) in experimentally infected golden hamsters, Mesocricetus auratus.
All 30 female golden hamsters, Mesocricetus auratus, fed either 125 +/- 50 (group A), 300 +/- 50 (group B), or 500 +/- 50 (group C) metacercarial cysts of Echinostoma revolutum were infected 7-35 days postexposure. The mean number of worms in A, B, and C were 62, 96, and 212, respectively. Most of the worms in A were in the jejunum, but in C worms were about equally distributed in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, and some were in the cecum. The body area and wet and dry weights of worms from C were significantly less than that of A or B at 2, 4, and 5 wk postinfection. Echinostoma revolutum eggs were in the feces of 100% of the hamsters by days 12, 13, and 14 in A, B, and C, respectively.
Franco
J
J
Department of Zoology and Physiology, Rutgers State University, Newark, New Jersey 07102.
Huffman
J E
JE
Fried
B
B
D000818:Animals; D006224:Cricetinae; D003441:Crowding; D004449:Echinostoma / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D004451:Echinostomiasis / Q000469:parasitology*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000469:parasitology*; D007422:Intestines / Q000469:parasitology*; D008647:Mesocricetus; D014201:Trematode Infections / Q000469:parasitology*