NEMATODES

Fort Salvador
 LYMPHATIC FILARIASIS

• Wuchereria bancrofti or Brugia malayi

• Infective stage is L3 microfilariae transmitted by Anopheles, Aedes, Culex,
Mansonia
• Causes elephantiasis and hydrocele
• Cause lymphangitis, lymphedema, granuloma formation in lymph nodes and
lymph vessels, intense eosinophilia
• Cause cycles of acute febrile episodes with lymphangitis due to the release of
microfilariae
• Thickening of skin and superimposed infections
WUCHERERIA BANCROFTI
 ONCOCERCA VOLVULUS

• Most common cause of preventable blindness in Sub-Saharan

Africa
• River blindness
• Causes skin atrophy and dermatitis (elephant/lizard skin)
• Loss of pigment and scaling
• Keratitis, iridocyclitis, retinitis, glaucoma
 STRONGYLOIDES
STERCORALIS

• Infective stage is filariform larvae that penetrate the skin

• Adult female worms lay eggs asexually in the gut
• Normally asymptomatic
• May cause diarrhea, bloating, malabsorption
• In IC patients, hyperinfections occur – spread to every
other tissue
• Can be complicated by bacteria entering the blood from the gut
causing sepsos
 TRICHINELLA SPIRALIS

• Ingestion of larvae from undercooked meat

• Mature into adults in the gut
• Release new larvae that disseminate hematogenously and
colonize muscle cells
• Cause myalgias and fever; eosinophilia
• Encysts in the skeletal muscle – cause disarray of muscle fibers
 TRICHINELLA SPIRALIS

• May go into the heart, lungs, brain

• Dyspnea, encephalitis, cardiac
failure
• Cause myocarditis and gliosis;
pulmonary hemorrhages
• Heavy infections can cause
massive cell death when they
invade