On the recovery of horsehair worms,Gordiussp. (Nematomorpha: Gordiida) from pork in Shillong, India.
The members of the phylum Nematomorpha, called as horsehair or gordian worms, are the parasites of arthropods and emerge from their host for reproduction and early development in water. There are about 360 species of nematomorphs described till date. Although, horsehair worms are parasites of arthropod species, sporadic cases of their occurrence have also been reported from several other hosts, including man. This paper describes a case history of the occurrence of two nematomorph worms in the meat of a pig in Shillong, India. The worms were reported to have emerged in live condition from pork bought by a consumer from local market in Shillong. One of the recovered specimens was studied by scanning electron microscopy for species determination and identified asGordiussp., mainly on the basis of flat polygonal areoles and fine bristles on the cuticle.
Department of Zoology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, 793022 India.
Arun K
AK
Yadav
Zoological Museum, University Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
Andreas
A
Schmidt-Rhaesa
Division of Animal Health, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya 793103 India.
R
R
Laha
Division of Animal Health, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya 793103 India.
A
A
Sen
Gordian worms; Infection; Nematomorpha; Pig meat