Species composition and seasonal dynamics of mosquito larvae in the Wroclaw, Poland area.

A total of 13,214 larvae specimens representing eight species (Culex pipiens, Culiseta annulata, Ochlerotatus cantans, Ochlerotatus communis, Ochlerotatus excrucians, Ochlerotatus sticticus, Aedes vexans, and Anopheles maculipennis) from twelve sampling places in the Wroclaw area in Poland were collected between May and October, 1998-2000. The development rate of each mosquito species depended on hydrological types and various plant communities in water bodies. The water quality (temperature, pH and ion concentration) influenced mosquito larvae dynamics as well. The most abundant and constant species was Cx. pipiens. Its monthly population was significantly higher in the water bodies located in the city center as compared to those in the suburbs.

Ascarid nematodes in domestic and wild terrestrial mammals.

The biology of the ascarid nematodes has been discussed in the context of their important economic role in farm animals, pet animals and zoo animals with special attention to carnivores and primates. In farm animals, infection with the most common roundworm of horses (Parascaris equorum) and swine (Ascaris suum) depend on many factors such as environmental conditions (larval development in the egg and egg survival), age of the host, breed, husbandry system, hygiene and treatment schedule. The monoxenic ascarids Toxocara canis and T. cati are the most important nematodes in carnivorous animals (dogs, cats, foxes) and carnivores in the zoo. In the period of March 2000 till March 2001, 57.1% of examined representatives of Felidae, Ursidae and Canidae in the Zoological Garden of Wroclaw were found to be infected with ascarids (T. canis, T. cati, Toxascaris leonina). The prevalence of T. canis in the Canidae was 66.7%, of T. cati in the Felidae was 14.3%, while 57.1% of the Felidae carried T. leonina infection. Ascaris lumbricoides, a typical parasite of primates, was found in some gorillas, chimpanzees and orang-utans during parasitological survey.

Entomopathogenic activities of environmental isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis against dipteran larvae.

Twenty-five field isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis from the Lower Silesia region of Poland, the Osola plain, and phylloplane niches and soil samples from the Karkonosze National Park were tested for insecticidal activity against larvae of the dipterans Aedes aegypti, Drosophila melanogaster and Musca domestica. The spore-crystal mixture of B. thuringiensis finitimus (soil isolate) killed nearly half of the fourth instar larvae of Ae. aegypti. Similar mortality of between 39-61% was recorded after treatment with two phylloplane isolates belonging to biochemical type I of B. thuringiensis (subsp. japonensis, yoso and jinghongiensis) and type IV (subsp. tochigiensis,). The effect of B. thuringiensis wratislaviensis H-47 was lowest, with larval mortality ranging from 7-28%. The susceptibility of D. melanogaster, evaluated as percentage of larvae that did not survive to adulthood, varied between 0-38% and 0-45% at dosages of 0.5 and 1 ml, respectively. The LC50s ranged from 5.07 x 10(9) to 1.04 x 10(11) spore-crystal mixture. The LC50s for M. domestica larvae were 4.1-4.8 x 10(8) spores/ml of B. thuringiensis finitimus and the phylloplane strain KpC1 (I type) and 2.9 x 10(9) for the phyloplane representative of group I. Generally, all tested isolates showed the most activity against common fly larvae. The highest (64-81% mortality) was observed after treatment with both phylloplane (OpPs1, KpF3, KpC1) and soil isolates (KsAc1) of biochemical type I as well as B. thuringiensis finitimus (type III).

[New/old opinions on the systematics and phylogenesis of the nematodes, with the special regard to Ascaridida, Ascaridoidea]. / Nowe/stare poglady na systematyke i filogeneze nicieni (Nematoda), ze szczególnym uwzglednieniem Ascaridida, Ascaridoidea.

Traditional classification of the nematodes, based on morphological-ecological characters was evaluated in the context of molecular analysis of systematic taxons, with special regards to ascarids. Division of superfamily Ascaridoidea into 4 families (Heterocheilidae, Ascarididae, Anisakidae, Raphidascarididae) proposed by Fagerhholm (1991) seems to be proved by the molecular data of Nadler (1992, 1995) and Nadler & Hudspeth (1998).

[Toxicity of isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis from Wroclaw against larvae of Aedes aegypti]. / Toksycznosc wroclawskich izolatów Bacillus thuringiensis wobec larw Aedes aegypti.

Seven field isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis from the Lower Silesia, region of Poland, the Osola plain and phylloplane niches and soil samples from the Karkonosze National Park were tested in vitro for insecticidal activity against mosquito larvae Aedes aegypti. Both the spore/crystal mixture and pured crystals from B. thuringienis strains KpC1, KpF3 and OpQ3 (belonging to the first physiological group including the subspecies japonensis, yoso, jinghongiensis ) proved to be the most active against insects (61-65% of corrected mortality). The lowest toxicity (7-28% mortality) was caused by B. thuringiensis wratislaviensis strains (PO12 and 13).

Scabies and head-lice infestations in different environmental conditions of Lower Silesia, Poland.

A comparison of external parasitic infestations among inhabitants of Legnica, Walbrzych, and Wroclaw districts, in the Lower Silesia region of Poland showed a direct relationship between the high incidence of scabies and low standard ecological indices, as well as social economic setting of the communities. In the years 1990-1997, the highest mean incidences of scabies per 100,000 people (80 and 46) were noted, respectively, in the Legnica and Walbrzych districts, compared to only 7.9 in the Wroclaw district. Infestation was correlated with percentages of the population with higher education (4.8; 4.2, 10.1, respectively) and the number of patients per physician (795, 632, 288, respectively), and the percentages of degraded land/and land threatened by degradation (10/37, 5/16, 0.7/10, respectively), forest stands damaged by gases and particulates (99.4, 99.4, 58.8, respectively), and air pollution emission indices in the towns of Legnica and Walbrzych (30 and 21 tons/km2) and Wroclaw (16). Scabies infestation was highest in children and teenagers (0-19) and was gender-associated (in all age groups, women were more often infested than men). A decreasing rate of scabies infestation, especially from the mid-1990s, was noted for both scabies and pediculosis in Walbrzych district; in the 0-19-yr-old inhabitants, it varied from 0.75% in 1994 to 0.41% in 1996.

[Co-occurrence of parasites sensu lato in alimentary tract of patients hospitalised in lower Silesia]. / Wspól wystepowanie pasozytów sensu lato w przewodzie pokarmowym pacjentów wybranych dolnoslaskich szpitali.

Up to now, the co-occurrence of parasites sensu stricto and fungi were confirmed mostly in the oral cavity. The aim of the present parallel parasitological and mycological investigations was to determine co-occurrence of protozoa, helminths and fungi (parasites sensu lato) both in smears from cavity and in stool samples of 93 patients undergoing the non-parasitological treatment in two hospitals of Lower Silesia (Poland). Among the examined patients parasites sensu lato (13 species) were found in 62 cases (63%). Trofozoites of Trichomonas tenax and/or Entamoeba gingivalis as well as fungi (Candida albicans, C. krusei, C. tropicalis and C. pseudotropicalis) occurred in 10% of the examined patients. Almost all infected cases (90%) were joined with infection of common invasion of protozoa and fungi. In stool common invasion of parasites sensu lato (Giardia intestinalis, Entamoeba coli, Ascaris lumbricoides, Taenia sp., Enterobius vermicularis as well as Candida albicans, C. krusei, C. pseudotropicalis, C. guilliermondii and Rhodotorula sp.) were found in 12% of the patiens. The co-occurrence of parasites and fungi was stated in the half of invasions. C. albicans was the most often co-occurring species in alimentary tract.

[Intestinal parasites in inhabitants of Wroclaw and Walbrzych]. / Pasozyty jelitowe u mieszkanców Wroclawia i Walbrzycha.

In the period 1990-1997 several thousand patients from Wroclaw and Walbrzych hospitals as well as inhabitants of Wroclaw city were examined for intestinal parasites. The presence of parasites was noted in 12.3% of 2173 patients from the District Hospital of Infectious Diseases in Wroclaw, 3.2% of 599 from Walbrzych Hospital and 39.3% (mostly Enterobius vermicularis) of 746 ambulatory examined persons in the Private Analytical Laboratory in Wroclaw. Among the intestinal protozoa the most frequent was Giardia intestinalis (from 5.7 to 18.1%) and Entamoeba coli (0.5-0.6%); the remaining amoebas (E. histolytica, E. hartmanni, E. polecki and Endolimax nana) as well as Chilomonas mesnili was present only in single cases. Enterobiosis was observed in nearly half of the total number of examined children (1808); the most rarely found helminths were Opisorchis felineus (! Adult patient), Strongyloides stercoralis (2) and Trichuris trichiura (8); Taenia saginata was found in 56 patients, which constituted 1.6% of the total number of examined cases and Ascaris lumbricoides in 40 (1.2%).

[Introduction to biology and control of mosquitoes]. / Wprowadzenie do biologii warunkujacej srodowiskowe zwalczanie komarów.

Mosquitoes systematics, life cycle as well as morphology and bionomics of developmental stages, mosquitoes borne diseases, ecology and reemergence, vectorial capacity of some domestic species were presented with regard to mosquitoes control by the integrated methods and ecological prophylaxis.

Estimation of distribution parameters of some avian parasites.

Occurrence of nematodes (mostly dominating and common species of Porrocaecum ensicaudatum and P. semiteres) in host populations of birds (Turdus merula, T. philomelos, Sturnus vulgaris and Scolopax rusticola) was summarized in frequency distributions, and tests of agreement with the Poisson model as well as the modified binomial have been computed. Comparisons of the observed frequencies with the expected ones showed the high values (3--257) of the coefficient of dispersion, the so-called "overdispersion", characteristic for the negative binomial which is an extension of the Poisson model. A nearly perfect fitness of the counted (observed) with the expected frequencies was found for S. vulgaris both in the analysis of nematode metapopulation and their common species of P. ensicaudatum. Some deviations from the expectations were found for tracing of all nematode species distributions in T. merula, T. philomelos. On the other hand, the same model (negative binomial distribution according to moment method) has fitted quite well to each for common or dominating nematode species.

[Biological monitoring with regard to parasites]. / Biologiczny monitoring z uwzglednieniem pasozytów.

The paper deals with the discussion on the sozological aspects of parasitology in the context of environmental monitoring, particularly the role of parasites as indicators of environmental quality bio-assessment. Parasites and parasitological rules are also suspected to have great weight with the study of biology, ecology and evolutionary relations between hosts in different ecosystems. It can be done by tracing the changes among host-parasite relationships and investigations of host and biotope condition.

Intraspecific morphometric variability of Goniocotes chrysocephalus (Phthiraptera, Ischnocera).

Morphometric variability of G. chrysocephalus was analysed and compared between and within the groups of individuals collected from single pheasant host (idiohostal populations) and from great number of hosts belonging to the same species (synhostal). The congruence of ranges of variation of 4 characters from 3 idio- and 1 synhostal population was examined. The arithmetic means of head width and abdomen as well as total body length of males from 2 idiohostal populations were statistically different from synhostal one. On the other hand, in the females such differences were only in the head width of idiohostal populations.

[Insecticidal activity of various strains of Bacillus against larvae of houseflies (Musca domestica)]. / Insektobójcza aktywnosc niektórych szczepów Bacillus wobec larw muchy domowej (Musca domestica).

Insecticidal activity of B. thuringiensis subsp. morrisoni and B. thuringiensis subsp. darmstadiensis as well as B. sphaericus 2362 and 2297 was evaluated against larvae of the house fly (Musca domestica) under laboratory condition. The activity of all tested strains was similar, LC50 ranges from 4 x 10(7) to 1 x 10(8) spores/ml. The higher spores concentration (2 x 10(9)) caused ca 70 per cent mortality. The relative low sensitivity of house fly larvae could results from weakly alkalic pH of the gut (7.6-7.8).