Clearance of a dermal Huffmanela sp. in a sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus) using levamisole.
A wild-caught captive sandbar shark Carcharhinus plumbeus developed a contiguous network of darkly pigmented linear tracks that progressed from the snout to the ventral cervical region. Microscopic examination of a skin scraping revealed nematode eggs of the genus Huffmanela, a group of histozoic nematodes that is known to parasitize requiem sharks and marine and freshwater teleosts. The fresh eggs were darkly pigmented with bipolar plugs, contained a larva, and measured 73.3 to 86.4 by 39.0 to 47.4 microm (n = 10). Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded eggs were significantly smaller (Wilcoxon rank sums test, p < 0.005), measuring 70.5 to 78.9 by 33.6 to 41.3 microm (n = 13). These measurements do not correlate with previously reported species of Huffmanela. Serial treatment with levamisole (10 mg kg(-1), intramuscular [i.m.]) cleared the egg tracks within 21 d, with no recurrence or apparent complications.
MacLean
Robert A
RA
Environmental Medicine Consortium, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, 4700 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, North Carolina 27606, USA.
Fatzinger
Michael H
MH
Woolard
Kevin D
KD
Harms
Craig A
CA
D000818:Animals; D000969:Antinematodal Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology; D007978:Levamisole / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D009348:Nematoda / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009349:Nematode Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000662:veterinary*; D010063:Ovum / Q000166:cytology; D012754:Sharks / Q000469:parasitology*; D012867:Skin / Q000469:parasitology; D012876:Skin Diseases, Parasitic / Q000662:veterinary; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000969:Antinematodal Agents; D007978:Levamisole