INTESTINAL PARASITES (Helminths)
NEMATODA Order: Strongylata

 TRICHOSTRONGYLUS spp.

Lykourgos_trycostrongylus-ic

Trichostrongylus: Trichostrongyles spp. are parasites of herbivores, distributed throughout the world; human infections, due to several Trichostrongylus spp.
(mainly T. orientalis) are observed in Asia (Korea, Japan, China, Iran) and Africa.
Adult worms are slender; males measure 4 mm in lenght by 75 µm in diameter µm; females measure 6 mm in length and 85 µm in diameter.
The eggs, observed in fresh stools at the morular stage measure 75-91 x 47 µm.
The infection is acquired after consumption of raw vegetables contaminated by
third larval stages, which are capable of invasion when ingested orally, without lung migration; the worms establish directly in the small intestinal wall
(duodenum and jejunum) and grow to sexually mature worms.
Trichostrongyles play both a mechanical and a toxic action; symptoms are usually mild (abdominal pain, malaise), except in heavy infections (anemia, weight loss).
Diagnosis: detection of eggs in fresh stool samples with concentration techniques.
The differentiation of eggs from those of hookworms is sometimes difficult and can be obtained in specimens treated with the formalin-ether concentration technique; identification of different Trichostrongylus species requires molecular biology
techniques.
(Tai-Soon YONG et al. Differential diagnosis of Trichostrongylus and hookworm eggs via PCR using ITS-1 sequence Korean Journal of Parasitology
Vol. 45, No. 1: 69-74, March 2007)

Trichostrongylus spp.: egg of Trichostrongylus spp. at morular stage.