Patterns of infection with the nematodes Syphacia obvelata and Aspiculuris tetraptera in conventionally maintained laboratory mice

ABSTRACT

Data on the frequency, distribution and mean intensity of the helminth fauna recovered from outbred and inbred mice conventionally maintained in Brazilian animal houses, are reported. The oxyurid nematodes Syphacia obvelata and Aspiculuris tetraptera presented overall frequencies of 91.5 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively. The frequency of S. obvelata in animals of three groups out of the four investigated ranged from 9 percent to 74 percent and A. tetraptera from 17 percent to 83 percent, since animals of one of the groups were negative for helminths. Infections due to a single species were observed in 62 percent of the animals, compared to 16 percent related to associations. The frequency of single infections in each group varied from 58.6 percent to 100 percent whereas associations varied from 24.1 percent to 41.4 percent. The analysis of specific mean intensities showed that S. obvelata was represented by 13.35 to 66.58 specimens/host and A. tetraptera by 5.85 to 16.75 specimens/host