Encyclopedia of Parasitology

DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_3517-1
# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Ascaris Species of Animals

Heinz Mehlhorn*
Institut f€
ur Zoomorphologie, Zellbiologie und Parasitologie Universit€atsstraße 1, D€usseldorf, Germany

General Information
1. Name: Greek, askaris meaning intestinal worm; toxon meaning arch or bow. Latin: sus meaning pig;
para meaning similar, equus meaning horse, leo meaning lion. Greek: prokyon meaning star close to
the star assemblage, kyon meaning dog, name for the raccoon.
2. Geographic distributions/epidemiology: Worldwide in many farm animals and in free-living
animals.
3. Morphology/life cycle: There are several ascarids in animals, which live together or close to humans:
• Ascaris suum (pigs) – ♀ up to 40 cm
• Parascaris equorum (horses, equids) – ♀ up to 40 cm
• Toxascaris leonina (dogs, cats) – ♀ up to 12 cm (see also Toxocara species of dogs)
• Baylisascaris procyonis (raccoons, dogs) – ♀ up to 12 cm
Their life cycle is very similar to that of Ascaris lumbricoides. If humans ingest eggs of these
species, the larvae wander within its body, but adults are not formed. Thus, conclusions derived from
molecular biological data comparing A. suum and A. lumbricoides (of humans) that both are the same
species are surely not true with respect to biological behavior and with respect to the results of Abebe
et al. (2002), who demonstrated species-specific proteins in both species.
4. Symptoms of the disease (ascariosis, ascariasis):
1. During the phase of larval migration through the different organs of the body of the infected
animals, the animals feed much less than normally and show weakness, with increased breathing,
coughing, pneumonia, and a typical eosinophilia; eventually also the symptoms of hepatitis
interstitialis parasitaria multiplex may occur. In pigs the liver appears with whitish dots (milk
dots), which are reactions to wandering larvae (Fig. 1).
2. Adult worms induce loss of fitness and weight, diarrheas, icterus, or even ileus verminosis.
5. Diagnosis: Demonstration of the typical, thick-shelled eggs, which develop outside of the host, the
infectious larva 2, which hatches from the egg after it is ingested by another or the former host (Fig. 2).
6. Infection: Oral uptake of eggs containing the larvae 2.
7. Prophylaxis: Regular removement of feces, which could contaminate the food or which would attract
flies that are able to transmit mechanically infectious eggs onto food or mouthparts of the hosts.
Disinfection of stables using hot steam.
8. Incubation period: 4 days (A. suum), 7 days (P. equorum), and 4–5 days (T. leonina, B. procyonis).
9. Prepatent period: 8–9 weeks (A. suum), 10 weeks (T. leonina, B. procyonis), and up to 15 weeks
(P. equorum).
10. Patency: 1–3 years.

*Email: mehlhorn@uni-duesseldorf.de
*Email: mehlhorn@hhu.de

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Encyclopedia of Parasitology
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_3517-1
# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Fig. 1 Microphoto of a liver of a pig showing the typical milk spots as signs of an infection with Ascaris suum

Fig. 2 Micrograph of a typical Ascaris egg, the shell of which is ruptured, thus showing the larva

11. Therapy: There are many useful medicaments, based either on the modern broad-range benzimid-
azoles (given orally) or avermectines such as ivermectin and doramectin being injected or pour-on
administered. Furthermore, there are used preparations containing piperazine, which, however, have
no effects on wandering larvae.

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Encyclopedia of Parasitology
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_3517-1
# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

References
Abebe W et al (2002) Species specific proteins identified in Ascaris lumbricoides and A. suum using
two-dimensional electrophoresis. Parasitol Res 88:868–871
Foata J et al (2006) Influence of season and host age on wild boar parasites in Corsica using indicator
species analysis. J Helminthol 80:41–45
Leles D et al (2012) Are Ascaris lumbricoides and Ascaris suum a single species? Parasit Vectors 5:42–49
Nejsum P et al (2012) Assessing the zoonotic potential of Ascaris suum and Trichuris suis: looking to the
future from an analysis of the past. J Helminthol 86:148–155

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