Comparative morphology of the species of Libyostrongylus and Codiostomum, parasites from ostriches, Struthio camelus, with a identification key to the species / Morfologia Comparativa das espécies de Libyostrongylus e Codiostomum, parasitas de avestruzes, Struthio camelus, com uma chave para identificação das espécies

One of the most common problems in breeding of ostriches in captivity is the control of parasitic diseases. This work presents keys for the identification of adult nematodes and infective larvae by morphologic and morphometric characteristics. These keys will allow the scientific community to identify the species that infect the ostriches either based on the characteristics of the posterior end of the infective larvae found through a simple fecal exam or by observing the morphology and morphometry of adult worms recovered during necropsies. These keys will facilitate ecological and systematic studies, as well as increase the understanding of the epidemiology of these parasitosis in ostriches.

Um dos problemas mais comuns na criação de avestruzes em cativeiro é o controle das doenças parasitárias. Este trabalho apresenta chaves para a identificação de Nematoda adultos e larvas infectantes através de caracteres morfológicos e morfométricos. Essas chaves de identificação permitirão à comunidade científica o diagnóstico das espécies que infectam as avestruzes com base nas características da extremidade posterior das larvas infectantes encontradas por meio de simples exames fecais ou pela observação da morfologia e morfometria dos espécimes adultos recuperados durante necropsia. Dessa forma, as chaves de identificação facilitarão os estudos ecológicos e sistemáticos, bem como a melhor compreensão da epidemiologia dessas infecções em avestruzes.

Angiostrongyliasis cantonensis (eosinophilic meningitis, Alicata's disease).

Angiostrongyliasis is an infectious disease caused by nematode parasites of the genus Angiostrongylus. The rat lung worm Angiostrongylus cantonensis, primarily a parasite of rodents, is largely responsible for human cases of eosinophilic meningitis, or meningoencerphalitis, which occurs on many Pacific islands and in Southeast Asia. The disorder, which frequently occurs in epidemic extent, is caused by invasion of the central nervous system by developing larvae of the parasite. The infection is most frequently due to ingestion of food containing the infective, third-state, larvae. Meningitic and ocular forms of the disease have been recognized. The disease has been described or referred to under a variety of synonyms. The terms eosinophilic meningitis, eosinophilic meningoencephalitis, and epidemic eosinophilic meningitis were first used to describe the disease before its etiology was known. These terms, however, lack specificity, because the eosinophilic meningitic syndrome may accompany many other parasitic as well as nonparasitic diseases of the central nervous system. Nevertheless, they are still being widely used, since in most cases only the epidemiology of the disease points to the etiologic role of A. cantonensis. Direct clinical or laboratory evidence of the etiologic agent is usually not established because reliable tests are not yet available. The term angiostrongylosis, or angiostrongyliasis, if used without the adjective, also may give rise to confusion, since the same term is applied to the pulmonary infection of dogs by A. vasorum and might be used for infection by any other Angiostrongylus species. Even the term cerebral or ocular angiostrongyliasis may prove in the future to have similar disadvantages. The scientifically correct term angiostrongyliasis cantonensis has been used recently. It is sufficiently specific and formed in analogy to the names of other parasitic diseases of man, like schistosomiasis japonica, schistosomiasis mansoni, schistosomiasis haematobia. For the murine infection, as well as for the disease produced experimentally in animals, the term angiostrongylosis cantonensis ought to be reserved because of the preferential use by veterinarians of the ending osis for designation of pathological changes produced in animals by parasites. After the recent discovery of A. costaricensis, another rat parasite causing human disease in Costa Rica, it becomes necessary to distinguish between angiostrongyliasis cantonensis (eosinophilic meningitis) and angiostrongyliasis costaricensis (intra-abdominal eosinophilic granulomatosis). A potential disadvantage of these terms may be encountered in case of a systemic revision or reclassification of the parasite. This has happened at intervals. A. cantonensis was named Pulmonema cantonensis by its discoverer and later was described under the name Haemostrongylus ratti.