1885-1886

On intestinal parasites of the pig and

other domestic animals and on the

occurrence of the same species in

man in Brazil *

During a long residence in Limeira, in the interior of the province of São Paulo, in Brazil, I had the opportunity to make some observations on the intestinal parasites of domestic animals, especially of pigs, which, though incomplete, may offer some points of interest, so I shall present them briefly.

The so-called Cysticercus celluloses and the cysticercus of Taenia echinococcus were both found in the pig. Both seem common, more especially the first, since the inhabitants, who are in the habit of tasting of the raw meat while slaughtering pigs and making sausages, almost always infect themselves with Taenia solium. The pigs acquire the cysticercus easily, since in many places there are no latrines, and human excrements are deposited near the dwellings, and the pigs, which run around loose, devour them eagerly. Still worse is an arrangement, also seen occasionally, whereby the latrines are built over the pigsties.

In human beings I have observed not only Taenia solium rather frequently, but sometimes also Cysticercus cellulosae, with or without Taenia. I have also found Taenia mediocannelata and T.saginata, which demonstrate the occurrence of the cysticercus stage in cattle. On the other hand, as far as I know, Echinococcus has not yet been found in man.

I found two specimens of Ech/norrhynchus g/gas in the intestine of a native pig.

Nothing is known about the occurrence of Tr/ch/na in Brazil; and in the examinations I conducted, it was always absent. Trichocephalus of the pig does occur; the human species, which is probably the same, is very widespread; I found it in about 25% of the cases examined.

The ascarids of the pig (A. suillae Duj.) is very frequent; in recently slaughtered animals, I have often seen it forming large clumps and distending some parts of the intestine to the utmost. I also consider this species to be identical with the human kind; in man I have seen veritable household epidemics, which are probably explained by the fact that pigs are often slaughtered in the yards of the houses. At such times, the Ascar/s, plus pieces of intestine, were thrown on the ground, where they probably found suitable conditions for development; at least once, I found segmented eggs in the gutters provided for the outflow of rain-water.

I have seen Rhabdonema or Anguillula of the pig only once; the human species, which most likely is different, is common, so much so that it was seen in about 33% of the persons examined.

A species of the pig that does not seem to have been mentioned for South America is nevertheless very common in the provinces of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. This is Stephanurus dentatus s. Sclerostomum pinguicola. It is often found in very large numbers and it makes wide tunnels, generally filled with pus, in the renal capsules or even in the kidneys themselves. The extent of destruction withstood without manifest symptoms of disease is often quite astonishing. In a pig that died suddenly I found numerous specimens of this parasite, besides tremendous effusion of blood in the peritoneum; I presume that one of them damaged an artery during its peregrination.

Among other nematodes, I have often seen Ascaris mylare in dogs and cats. In the stomach of the latter, I have twice found a number of males and females of a species of Physaloptera, possibly identical to Physaloptera digitata Schneirer, a parasite of Felis concolor. However, the position of the papillae of the male bursa was rather different and my specimens were much larger, up to about double the size.

I once found Oxyuris curvula in a horse.

As to other intestinal parasites, I once observed numerous, spherical microscopic formations in the duodenum of a pig, containing smaller spherical bodies, which may have been Coccodia with psorospermia.

Lastly, I point out that these sporadic observations must not be interpreted as excluding the existence of other intestinal parasites.

* Communication by Dr. Adolpho Lutz published under the title “Ueber in Brasilien beobachtete Darmparasiten des Schweines und anderer Hausthiere, sowie über das Vorkommen derselben Arten beim Menschen,” in Deutsche Zeitschrift für Thiermedizin und vergleichende Pathologie (Leipzig), v.12, n.1-2, p.61-2, 1886 (section called Kle/nere M/tthe/lungen, Brief communications). [E.N.]