Transfer of adult Strongylus vulgaris via stomach tube.
Patent infections with Strongylus vulgaris were established in 6 of 8 helminth-free ponies given 41 to 101 adult worms via nasogastric tube. The parasites were removed from the cecum and ventral colon and transferred within 1 to 2 hours of the death of the donor horses. Eggs were found in the feces of the recipients in 2 or 3 days; egg counts reached maximum, 28 eggs per gram of feces, at 4 weeks after ponies were inoculated. In 6 ponies euthanatized 3 to 7 weeks after parasitic transfers were done, 28% of the inoculated worms were found alive at necropsy. A 7th pony was maintained as a donor for establishing infections for chemotherapy trials and, although never passing more than 6 eggs per gram of feces, shed infective larvae over a period of 2 years.
D000818:Animals; D002432:Cecum / Q000469:parasitology; D003106:Colon / Q000469:parasitology; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D006736:Horses; D007441:Intubation, Gastrointestinal / Q000662:veterinary; D010270:Parasite Egg Count / Q000662:veterinary; D013319:Strongyle Infections, Equine / Q000469:parasitology*; D013320:Strongyloidea / Q000254:growth & development*