Lecture No.

128
Diseases of flukes, nematodes and cestodes
Veterinary Pathology, PVNRTVU
 INTRODUCTION
•Nematodes, cestodes, and trematodes are important parasites of poultry
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•Parasites with complicated life cycles, involving intermediate hosts such as insects
or snails, were virtually eliminated when commercial poultry practices are
introduced
•Only a handful of these parasites are important in commercial poultry, although
many are found in small flocks reared in natural environments
•A few nematodes, such as the ascarids, caecal worms and capillarids have direct
life cycles and are fecund enough to prosper in the poultry house environment,
particularly where management does not require frequent cleanouts
•Some cestodes are important, even though they use an intermediate host,
because the host also prospers in the poultry house environment
 TREMATODES

•Trematodes (flukes) are flat, leaflike, parasitic organisms belonging to the

phylum Platyhelminthes, class Trematoda
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•They differ from cestodes (class: Cestoda) in having a digestive system and
they do not form proglottids
•The life cycle of all trematodes parasitizing birds requires a molluscan as an
intermediate host; some species also use a second intermediate host
•Since adult trematodes and larval metacercariae invade almost every cavity
and tissue of birds, they may be seen unexpectedly at necropsy
•Flukes are less host-specific than tape worms. Therefore, wild birds often
introduce infection in areas where domestic poultry is reared
•Since many snails live in ponds and streams, ducks and geese are the most
frequently parasitized
•Out of all the trematodes, the oviduct fluke (Prosthogonimus sp.), which is a
frequent parasite of many species of wild birds, sometimes affects ducks and
chickens.
 • Prosthogonimus macrorchis (oviduct fluke) cause economic losses to poultry
producers by
• Drastically reducing egg production after a recent infection
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• Occasionally found being enveloped within a hen’s egg

• Organs invaded by the flukes include-

• Metacercarial cysts in the skin of chickens and turkeys ( Collyriclum faba )
• Small adult flukes in the conjunctival sac of the eye ( Philopthalmus gralli)
• Adults in the liver, pancreas and bile duct of ducks and turkeys ( Amphimerus
elongatus )
• Adults in the collecting tubules of the excretory system of chickens, turkeys,
and pigeons ( Tanaisa bragai )
• Adults and eggs in the circulatory system of ducks by blood fluke
• Some flukes invade various areas of the digestive tract
 IMPORTANT POULTRY
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TREMATODES
S.No Parasite Hosts Location

1 Echinostoma revolutum Ducks and geese Caeca and

rectum

2 Prosthogonimus sp. Fowl, duck and Bursa Fabricius,

geese oviduct, cloaca
and rectum
 NEMATODES
• Nematodes constitute the most important group of helminthic parasites of poultry
• In the number of species, the number of birds infected, and the amount of damage
done, they far exceed the trematodes and cestodes
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• Avian nematodes usually have a broad host range. Therefore, nematodes found in
wild birds may constitute a hazard for commercially raised birds

• The nematodes are , with very few exceptions, sexually different

• The male can usually be differentiated from the female by the presence of two (rarely
one) chitinous (horny) structures known as spicules located in the posterior end of
the body
• The spicules are considered as intromittent (that which inserts) organs for use during
copulation. They keep the vulva and vagina open and guide the sperm into the female
• Eggs or larvae are discharged through the vulva
Veterinary Pathology, PVNRTVU DEVELOPMENT OF NEMATODES

• Eggs of some nematodes require only a few days to complete embryonation;

others require several weeks.

• In case of nematodes with direct life cycle, the final host becomes infected by
eating embryonated eggs containing second stage larvae or free larvae.

• In case of those with indirect life cycle, the intermediate host ingests the
embryonated eggs or free larvae and retains the larvae within the body tissues.

• The final host becomes infected either by eating the infected intermediate hosts or
by injection of the larvae by a blood-feeding arthropod.
 ASCARIDA GALLI

• Ascardia are the largest nematodes of poultry.

• The adults live in the lumen of the small intestine, but the larval stage invade
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the mucosa.

• Ascardia galli occurs in chicken, turkey, duck and goose.

• It is usually found in the lumen of intestine, sometimes in the esophagus,

crop, gizzard, oviduct and body cavity.

• Ascardia galli are large worms. The male is 50 -76 mm long, the female is 60-
116 mm long.

• The eggs are oval-shaped, thick shelled, and not embryonated at the time of
deposition
 • LIFE CYCLE
• A.galli eggs are ingested by grass hoppers or earth worms, hatch , and are
infective to chickens. However, no development of the larvae occurs.
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• Under optimum conditions of temperature and moisture, eggs in the

droppings become infective in 10 – 12 days; under less favourable conditions,
a long timer time is necessary.
• Eggs are quite resistant to low (non-freezing) temperatures

• PATHOGENECITY
• Synergism with other diseases like coccidiosis, infectious bronchitis produce
harmful effects
• A.galli have also been shown to transmit avian reoviruses
• Sometimes, A.galli is found in the hen’s eggs as they migrate, from the cloaca,
up the oviduct with subsequent inclusion in the egg
• Infected eggs can be detected by candling
 Ascardia galli in the lumen of intestine
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 CAPILLARIA

• It infects chicken, turkey, duck, goose, guinea fowl, pigeon, and quail.
• They are seen in the small intestine and the caecum.
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• They are the smallest of the nematodes.

• Highly pathogenic when they are present in large numbers.
• Different species parasitize different parts of the alimentary tract.
• Life cycle may be direct or indirect.
• The most common and pathogenic is Capillaria obsignata, a hair-like worm ,
which has a direct life cycle.
 HETERAKIS GALLINARUM
• Heterakis gallinarum (caecal worm) infects chicken, turkey, duck, goose,
pheasant and quail
• The larval and adult H.gallinarum inhabit the caeca
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• Adult worms are small and white

• The male is 7-13 mm long while the female is 10-15 mm long in length
• The eggs are thick-shelled, ellipsoidal, unsegmented when deposited, and
undistinguishable from those of A.galli.

• LIFE CYCLE: The larvae are closely associated with and some times embedded in
the caecal tissue.
• At necropsy, most of the adult worms are found in the blind ends of caeca.
• Earth worms may also ingest the eggs of the caecal worms and may be the
means of causing infection in poultry.
 • PATHOGENECITY
• Basically, H.gallinarum is not pathogenic
• The chief economic importance of the caecal worm lies in its role as a carrier of
the black head organism Histomonas meleagridis
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• Histomoniasis may be produced in susceptible hosts by feeding embryonated eggs

of H. gallinarum taken from black head infected birds
• The protozoan parasites (Histomonas sp.) are found in the worm egg. Its presence
has been identified in the intestinal wall, in the reproductive systems of male and
female, and in the developing eggs of the caecal worms

• GROSS LESIONS
• The caeca show marked inflammation and thickening of walls
• In heavy infections, nodules form in the mucosa and sub mucosa, as the response
of already sensitized caeca to subsequent infection
• Hepatic granulomas containing the worms have also been reported in chicken
 SYNGAMUS TRACHEA
• Syngamus trachea is the only nematode of importance in the respiratory tract.
• It has been reported in chicken, turkey, goose, guinea fowl ,quail and other
species.
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• It may be found in the trachea, bronchi, and bronchioles and causes the condition
of Gapes ( laboured breathing due to parasites).
• Therefore the worms are commonly known as gape worms.
• It is some times called as Red worm because if its colour , or forked worm because
the male and female are in permanent copulation so that they appear like the

letter “Y”.
• The male is 2-6 mm long, and female 5-20 mm in length. The eggs are oval-shaped
and operculated.
 • LIFE CYCLE
• Snails and slugs may also serve as transfer hosts of larvae.
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• Snails are not true intermediate hosts, since they are necessary for the transfer
of gapeworms to birds.
• PATHOGENECITY
• Young birds are most seriously affected with gape worm.
• Turkey poults and baby chicks are most susceptible to infection.
• Turkey poults usually develop gapeworm signs earlier and begin to die sooner
after infection than young chickens.
Veterinary Pathology, PVNRTVU Syngamus trachea in tracheal lumen
 CESTODES
•A high percentage of chickens and turkeys may be infected with tapeworms if they are
reared on range or in back yard flocks
•These parasites are found more frequently in warmer seasons, when intermediate hosts
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are abundant
•Many species of tape worms are now considered rare in intensive poultry farming because
the birds do not come in contact with intermediate hosts
•Tape worms or cestodes are flattened, ribbon shaped, usually segmented worms.
•The term, proglottid is used to describe these individual segments
•One to several gravid proglottids are shed daily from the posterior end of the worm.
•Each proglottid contains one or more sets of reproductive organs, which may be become
overcrowded with eggs as the maturing proglottid becomes a gravid proglottid
•Tape worms are characterised by complete absence of digestive tract and obtain their
nutritional nourishment by absorption from the intestinal contents of the host
•Duodenum , jejunum or ileum are the usual sites for attachment.
•But Hymenolepis megalops is found in the cloaca or bursa of Fabricius of ducks
 PATHOGENESIS
•Raillietina cesticillus and Choanotaenia infundibulum may block completely the
intestine of an infected bird
•Some pathologically important species are-
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• Davainea proglottina
• More harmful species in young birds
• Clinical signs : Emaciation, dull plumage, breathing difficulties, leg
weakness, paralysis, and death
• Raillietina tetragona - cause weight loss and decreased egg production
• Raillietina echinobothrida
• One of the most pathogenic tapeworm
• Its presence has often associated with nodular disease of chickens
• It produces parasitic granuloma about 1-6 mm in diameter at the site
of attachment
• The condition is associated with catarrhal hyperplastic enteritis as
well as lymphocytic, heterophilic and eosinophilic infiltration
 DIAGNOSIS
•Demonstration of distinctive characteristic scolex , eggs, or individual proglottids
of different species of tapeworms
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•Wet-mount preparations of the scolex may reveal enough characteristics to

make a species identification
•Distinctive egg characteristics can be demonstrated by teasing apart a gravid
proglottid under a cover slip
•Wet-preparations of mature or gravid proglottids ,under low magnification may
reveal diagnostic characteristics such as the location, size, and shape of the cirrus
pouch and the location of the genital pore and the gonads
•If further details of the internal structures of the proglottid are required for
identification, it may be necessary to kill, fix, stain, destain, dehydrate, and
permanently mount the specimen
 IMPORTANT POULTRY CESTODES
Parasite Host Location

Raillietina sp. Chickens, turkeys, guinea Small intestine

fowls and pigeons
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Davainea proglottina Fowls and pigeons Small intestine

Choanotaenia Fowls and turkeys Small intestine

infundibulum

Hymenolepis sp. Fowls, ducks and geese Small intestine

Veterinary Pathology, PVNRTVU Raillietina echinobothrida in small intestine