Module 5: Phylum Nematoda - DISTRIBUTION

o Polar regions to tropics;

- Amphids on head
mountaintops to seas
o paired lateral sensory organ
o Marine, freshwater,
that is derived from the cilia
o Bore holes of gold mines in S.
and is open to the outside
Africa (3.6km)
through a small pore

- LIFESTYLE
o Free-living
o Parasitic
▪ ↑densities near plant
roots
Nematodes
▪ Species-specific
- Greek word Nematoda “thread” relationships
- Roundworms (vermiform “worm-like”) ▪ Economically important
- ~ 20,000 species • Crop damage
- Ubiquitous o Eutely
o Can be found anywhere ▪ Growth in each
- Unsegmented individual cell size
- Acoelomate and pseudocoelomate rather than the cell
o Acoelomate – no body cavity (A, number
none) o Cryptobiosis
o Or have a pseudocoelom (like a ▪ State of suspended
body cavity) animation
▪ Hibernating (to
withstand periodic
desiccation)

Class Chromadorea

Wuchereria bancrofti
- ABUNDANCE
o Most abundant multicellular - filarial nematode
animals o roundworms transmitted by
o 1-4M per m2 in shallow water arthropod vectors
o 90 000 in a rotten apple
 o Progresses to become chronic,
debilitating, and disfiguring
- Epidemiology
o 120 M affected (sub/tropical
Asia), Africa, Pacific and
Americas
▪ 20% incapacitated
o Endemic in 45/78 provinces
(Philippines)
▪ Sulu, Marinduque,
Sarangani
- DISEASE: Lymphatic filariasis
o “filaria” free larval stage of
filarioidea in the blood and
tissue of humans
o Painful, disfiguring disease
o Caused by filarial nematodes
o 1 B people in 80 countries are
at risk
- LIFE CYCLE
o Nocturnal periodicity
▪ Stay in deep blood
vessel (when host is
awake)
▪ Has body clock on when
will it travel in the body
• Sleep – travel in
peripheral
blood vessel
• Enable it to be
ingested by
mosquito
o Intermediate host and carrier
(vector): mosquito
▪ Specific per country
▪ Africa – Anopheles sp.
▪ America – Culex sp.
▪ Asia & Pacific –
Mansonia and Aedes
sp.
o Blood meal, transmit disease
inside humans
▪ Mosquito is larval stage
o Matures in lymphatics system
(circulatory system, fluid
balance)
o Female and Male mate in
lymphatic system
▪ Female release
thousands of
microfilariae (pre larval)
- Nocturnal periodicity
o In mosquito, migrate in wall of
Proventriculus and cardiac
portion of midgut
o Then reaching thoracic muscles
- 1-2 weeks, mature into first stage larva
o Then infected 3rd stage larva
o It will migrate to hemocoel to
mosquito proboscis
- Bite
- Adult: 6 months
o Female can live up to 7 years
- PATHOLOGY
o Repeated mosquito bites→
lymphatic filariasis
o Lymphedema
▪ Swollen tissue due to
obstruction by lymph
fluid (6 months)
o Elephantiasis
▪ Thickening and
hardening of skin (fatal)
o Pulmonary tropical eosinophilia
syndrome
▪ Cough, shortness of
breath, wheezing,
enlarged spleen
▪ Mostly in Asia and
Southeast Asia
▪ High levels of
immunoglobulin E and
into filarial bodies.
- DIAGNOSIS
o Blood sample at night,
microscopic analysis (nocturnal)
o Presence of IgG4 antibodies
▪ Developed to prevent
female W. brancrofti
o Card test
▪ Using finger blood (any
time)
o Molecular diagnosis by PCR
- TREATMENT
o Drug (DEC) Diethylcarbamazine
▪ Only used if worm is
identified
▪ Since some with lymph
edema is not caused by
this worm
▪ If not diagnosed, DEC
may worsen some
diseases like
onchocerciasis
(Onchocerca volvulus)
• encephalopathy
or death
▪ kills microfilariae in
blood stream and
adults in lymph vessels
▪ Side effects: dizziness,
fever, headache,
nausea, muscle and
joint pain
o Ivermectin
▪ Only kills microfilaria
▪ Exercising the swollen
arm/leg (improve flow
of lymphatic fluid)
o Antibiotics
- Wolbachia sp. is in symbiosis with
Wuchereria bancrofti
o Bacteria is living inside the
worm
- CONTROL: Populations of mosquitoes
- Disease contains: Fibrous tissue,
granulose tissue and fat. Skin is cracked.
- Causes 90% of the cases of Lymph
edema in genitals
o Brugia malayi
o Brugia timori
Ascaris lumbricoides
- COMMON NAME: human
roundworm/large roundworm in
humans
- INFECTION: Ascariasis
o Small intestine target
- EPIDEMIOLOGY
o 25% of the population is
infected
o Worldwide (mostly tropical and
subtropical countries)
o Poor sanitation or human feces
used as fertilizers
- LIFE CYCLE
o 3 months to complete life cycle
o Adult worms attach themselves
to the intestines and intestinal
walls when they are ready to
mate
 o Eats the food digested by host - PATHOLOGY
o Can live up to two years o Asymptomatic
o FEMALE IS LARGER: 20 to 35 cm ▪ Few worms
long o Blockage (biliary tract, bowel)
▪ Diameter 3 to 6 mm o diarrhea, fever, nausea,
▪ 200,000 microscopic stomach ache
eggs per day o Stunted growth, vomiting,
o MALE: 15 to 30 cm long weakness.
▪ Diameter 2 to 4 mm o Pulmonary symptoms
only ▪ breathing difficulty
- pass through the feces ▪ cough and/or coughing
- the egg is then fertilized within a few up blood
weeks in the right condition in the soil → Eosinophilic pneumonitis
- Unfertilized eggs are not infective ▪ rare disorder – rapid
- Eggs are resistant to chemicals, extreme accumulation of
temperatures, and rough conditions eosinophils in the lungs
o Can strive for months (white blood cells)
- ACQUIRED: accidentally swallowed ▪ Symptoms: shortness of
- Larva will hatch from egg and will breath, rapid onset,
penetrate intestinal wall and will enter acute respiratory failure
bloodstream (cough, night sweats,
- Stop at pulmonary arteries and stay in fever, weight loss,
the lungs for up to 2 weeks sometimes coughing of
- Go to alveoli and travel to respiratory blood)
system to the throat to be swallowed - Some common in kids
again in digestive tract - DIAGNOSIS
- Migration is needed in order for larva to o Microscopic examination of
develop as adults feces
- Unfertilized egg: longer, elongated, ▪ Fecalysis
larger, thinner mamillated layer o Presence of adult worms (or
- Fertilized egg: rounded and has thicker egg)
shells with external mamillated layer - TREATMENT
o Ascariscides
▪ 1 to 3 days
▪ Kill by preventing it
from absorbing nutrient
in the intestine
o Albendazole, ivermectin,
nitazoxanide, mebendazole
o Fecalysis 1 to 2 weeks after the
treatment to ensure death
- CONTROL
o Avoid touching feces-
contaminated soil
 o avoid food and water
contaminated with soil
o Wash hands with water and
soap before eating or preparing
food.
o Prepare and cook food properly
Enterobius vermicularis
- COMMON NAME: human pinworm
- EPIDEMIOLOGY
o Most common parasitic worm
in the US and western Europe
o 11.4% in US infected
o 50% European
o Easily transmitted human to
human
o Common in children
- DISEASE: Enterobiasis
o Anal itching
- Adult: 1 cm long size
- Embryonated eggs
- LIFE CYCLE
o Does not need intermediate
host to complete life cycle
o Accidental swallow or inhale
pinworm eggs
o Inside duodenum, larvae will
hatch from the eggs
▪ 0.15 mm long, grow
very fast
o Ilium for maturation as adults
o Adult: white pinworms
▪ Male: 0.2 mm thick and
2 to 5 mm long, Life 7
weeks
▪ Female LARGER: 0.5
mm thick and 8 to 13
mm long, 5 to 13 weeks
- Usually males die after mating
- Gravid (has egg) female migrates to
perianal region
o Reside at the beginning of large
intestine (colon), eat food in
intestinal tract
o After 4 weeks, cant swim (12
cm per hour towards the
rectum)
- During human sleep (low temp, less
movement)
o Female pushes out from anus
and lays egg on the outside skin
▪ After 11,000-16,000
eggs, it will die
▪ Eggs are light and can
be directed through air
current
▪ Viable for 1 week in
cool moist conditions
- Autoinfection
o Sometimes, they lay egg in the
colon if enough oxygen is
present (large intestine or
rectum only) → rare
- PATHOLOGY
o Difficulty sleeping
▪ Intense itching around
the anus
 ▪ Irritability
o Irritated or infected skin around
the anus
o Irritation or discomfort of the
vagina
o Loss of appetite and weight
▪ severe
- DIAGNOSIS
Dracunculus medinensis
o Detection of pinworms or their
eggs.
o Worms on the perianal area
▪ 2 to 3 hours after falling
asleep
o scotch tape method
▪ eggs stick to the tape
which can be placed on
a slide and examined
under a microscope by
a doctor.
▪ Bathing or having a
bowel movement can
remove eggs from the
skin.
▪ test should be done
immediately after
waking up.
- TREATMENT: Albendazole and
Mebendazole
o kill larvae and adults but not
the eggs.
o To get rid of all pinworms,
another dose needs to be taken
after two weeks to kill the
newly hatched larvae.
o All family members should be
treated at the same time.
- CONTROL
o Clean toilet seats daily
o Keep fingernails short and clean
o Wash all bed linens twice a
week
o Wash hands before meals and
after using the toilet
o Avoid scratching the infected
area around the anus
- It does not infect other animals but they
can carry eggs in their fur (no reservoir
host).
- Egg: 50-60 mm by 30 mm, elongated or
oval, flattened on one side
- DISEASE/INFECTION: Dracunculiasis or
guinea worm disease
o FEMALE: up to 31 inches long
o MALE: 40 mm
- COMMON NAME: Guinea worm
- EPIDEMIOLOGY: drinking water from
stagnant sources
o ponds contaminated eggs
(copepods)
o eating fish (paratenic host), rare
o Africa and India, no reservoir
host
▪ Each generation must
past through a human
- LIFE CYCLE
o Drink with copepods or small
crustaceans
o Copepod will die and release
stage 3 larva which penetrates
host stomach and intestinal
wall and will enter in the
abdominal cavity and retro
peritoneal space
o Maturity: Male will die, female
migrates to subcutaneous
tissue towards surface of the
skin
▪ After a year, female
worms forms blister on
the skin, generally on
lower extremities or
distal end which may
break open
▪ For comfort, it will be
put to water where
 stage 1 larva will be
released
- PATHOLOGY
o Migration→ painful ulcerating
blister.
o Allergic Reactions during blister
formation
o →intense, burning pain, rashes,
nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, and
localized edema
▪ Upon rupture of blister,
allergic reaction
subsides but skin ulcers
will form where the
worm can protrude
o Only when the worm is
removed is healing complete.
o arthritis and paralysis
▪ When died in the joints,
can lead to arthritis
▪ If spinal cord, paralysis
o They can also emerge from
other parts of the body, such as
the head, torso, upper
extremities, buttocks, and
genitalia
- DIAGNOSIS: appearance of blister and
protrusion of worm
- TREATMENT:
o wind the worm out on a stick
o surgery – successful only when
near the surface of the skin
o Metrodinazole – can relieve the
symptoms, activity against the
worm is questionable
- CONTROL
o Prevention of water
contamination
o Killing copepods with
insecticide
o When fishing, fine mesh cloth
- Basis of the logo for the rod of Asclepius
and the staff of Hermes
- Crimpling disease on the verge of
eradication
o 22 cases in the year 2015 (only
4 countries) poor countries
▪ Chad (12), Ethiopia (11),
Mali (1), South Sudan
Ancylostoma duodenale
- INFECTION: Hookworm disease
o Gastrointestinal infection
characterized by chronic blood
loss which leads to iron
deficiency (anemia) and protein
malnutrition
▪ Metal retardation with
weakness
o Wacana disease if transmitted
already
o Transmitted orally
- COMMON NAME: Old World hookworm
or classic hook worm
o Hook worm can also be as
necator americanus
▪ Found in America, Sub
Sahara and Asia
▪ More curved, smaller,
skin penetration only
▪ New world hookworm
- EPIDEMIOLOGY: common among
children (intestinal infection)
o Growth stunting, impairment of
physical fitness, intellectual and
cognitive development
 o Found in focal environment
(Europe, Mediterranean)
o 500 to 700 million individuals
infected with the hookworm as
of today → 18 million severely
affected
o Infection common in poor
population
- MORPHOLOGY
o Cervical curvature that
resembles a hook
o Body follow a curvature that
looks like a letter C
o Greyish white or pinkish
o Head slightly bent (hook)
o FEMALE: blood posterior end,
longer, and stouter
o MALE: flaring in its posterior
end
- LIFE CYCLE
o Eggs are passed in the stool
under favorable conditions
▪ Moisture, warm
▪ Hatch in 1 to 2 days,
then free living in
contaminated soil
(rhabditiform)
- 5 to 10 days filariform (3rd stage)
o Infective larva
o Can survive 3 to 4 weeks
- Penetrate the skin
- Carried to the bloodstream
- Go to pulmonary alveoli to the
bronchial tree to the pharynx,
swallowed to digestive tract
- Once it reaches duodenum, reside into
adults
o Lumen of small intestine, attach
on the intestinal wall (blood
loss may occur)
o Differences in anterior hook
o Most adult worms are
eliminated 1 to 2 years of
infection (longevity can reach
up to several years)
o Some larva can become
dormant
▪ Stay in intestine or
muscle
▪ Can reactivate and
establish in intestine
- Infection of Ancylostoma may also
occur oral or trans memory route
Class Enoplea
Trichuris trichiura
- COMMON NAME: weak worm
- INFECTION: Trichuriasis or weak worm
infection
o Infecting human in tropical
countries
- Live in large intestines
- Likely to infect those that has been
infected by other parasites
- Anterior thinner – burrowed in the
intestinal wall (eating the nutrient in
the mucosa)
- Posterior thicker
- ADULT:
o FEMALE: 35 – 50 mm
o MALE: 30 – 45 mm
- white pink in color
- Egg: lemon or barrel-shaped egg,
prominent opercular plug on both ends,
outer covering is yellowish, transparent
inner shell
- PATHOLOGY
o Small amounts of whipworms
might not cause any symptoms.
o hundreds of worms—
▪ bloody diarrhea and
anemia due to severe
vitamin and iron loss.
- LIFE CYCLE ▪ inflammation of the
o Female lays its egg in the large intestinal wall
intestines • open wound
o Carried out by feces, warm ▪ rectal prolapse
moist soil • rectum come
o 2 to 3 weeks, eggs are now out
infected ready to be digested - DIAGNOSIS
▪ Ex: eating of beans o Stool analysis- barrel-shaped
o Infect intestinal villi and will eggs (brown) → fecalysis
start growing there - TREATMENT
o Move to large intestine, o Mebendazole, albendazole
penetrate mucosa and develop ▪ Kill the whipworm
into adults o Supplements
o Only head thinner part is ▪ Symptoms can be
threaded into the intestinal wall treated with
o Posterior ready to mate supplements
o 2,000 to 10,000 eggs per day o Surgical management
o Cycle takes a few months from - CONTROL
eggs to adult o Good personal hygiene
o Live for 2 to 5 years o Wash and cook food thoroughly
o Freezing might kill parasites
Trichinella spiralis

- COMMON NAME: pork worm

- INFECTION: Trichinalis or Trichinosis
o Rats, pigs, bears, human
- LIFE CYCLE
o Direct life cycle (complete all
stages of development within
one host)
o Larva stage is encapsulated
▪ Small cystic structure
within the infected host
o Infected when unproperly
cooked meet
▪ When eaten, larva is
released from the nurse
cell
▪ Release due to the pH
of the stomach
o Will migrate to the intestines,
burrow itself in intestinal
mucosa → where it will mature
and reproduce
o Juvenile within the host cells
has facultative anaerobic
metabolism - PATHOLOGY
o When activated, aerobic o Migration → tissue damage
metabolism ▪ Fever
- FEMALE: 6 weeks ▪ Can cause Myocarditis
o 1,500 larva ▪ Encephalitis (brain)
o When it dies, passes to stool o Waste products →
o Direct infection immunological reactions
▪ Inflammation—nausea,
vomiting, sweating and
diarrhea
o Facial edema, fever
o intense muscular pain, difficulty
breathing, weakening of pulse
and blood pressure, heart
damage and various nervous
disorders,
o →death due to heart failure,
respiratory complications or
kidney malfunction.
- DIAGNOSIS
 o Muscle biopsy
o Immunodiagnostic tests
- TREATMENT
o Mebendazole, albendazole
▪ Efficacy uncertain
o Analgesics: drug that relieves
pain without blocking
conduction of nerve impulse
o Corticosteroids: treatment for
rashes, lupus, asthma
- Control
o Anti-helminth for pigs
o Not eating raw or undercooked
meat