Spirocerca lupi

rdf:langString Spirocerca lupi

rdf:langString Spirocerca lupi

rdf:langString Spirocerca lupi

rdf:langString Spirocerca lupi

rdf:langString Spirocerca

rdf:langString Spirocerca lupi egg.

rdf:langString Animalia

rdf:langString S. lupi

rdf:langString S. lupi is endemic (occurs naturally) from southern Africa all the way up to Israel, Turkey, Greece and India; faecal evidence also exists for it in the southern USA. Although early reports of the disease were American, few reports emerge any longer from this country. This may be because a commonly-used insecticide wiped out a lot of the hosts, before being banned – so never reached Israel or SA (anecdotal). This parasite has a complex 110-day life cycle with both intermediate and paratenic (=transport) hosts. Coprophagous (“dung”) beetles are the intermediate hosts, ingesting the eggs which contain the L1 larvae. Within this host, the eggs encysts and develop into the infectious L3 larvae in 2 months. The infectious process can be direct (ingestion of an infected beetle) or indirect (ingestion by a paratenic host such as wild birds and poultry, lizards and rodents, rabbits and even hedgehogs). Thus both lizards and bird offal may be important sources of infection, although there is no proof, as some maintain, that hadidah ibis faeces are infectious. The paratenic hosts are more probable sources of infection for domestic dogs.