A study conducted in. all the government schools in Wilayah to find the prevalence rate of worm infection in. urban schools revealed that 50 percent of the 7,682 school children. examined suffered from helminthiasis. More than 50 percent had mixed infections, worm infection was more prevalent among Malays and Indians. Both males and females had an equal prevalence of worm infection. Schools near the squatter areas had high infection rates. This was attributed to poverty, cultural factors, and environmental sanitation in the squatter areas.
A description of sensory receptors of Trichobilharzia brevis is given. They are compared with the five Schistosomatidae described by Richard (1971), namely, Trichobilharzia ocellata, schistosoma mansoni, S. bovis, S; haematobium and S. rodhaini. All these species display very similar chaetotaxic characters. In the study of the cercaria of Haplorchis pumilio, comparison with the few Opisthorchioidea cercarial sensory organs already known has enabled the authors to characterise the chaetotaxy for this superfamily.
Many trichostrongyloid species parasitizing rodents in Malaysia were described in 1967 in a thesis that was never published. Some of these species have since been redescribed sometimes with, sometimes without reference to the thesis. The remaining species are redescribed using information given in the thesis and certain additional morphological data (in particular, the synlophe) taken from study of the paratypes. The species are reclassified according to criteria established in the most recent classification. The following genera are proposed: Brevistriatinae: - Macrostrongylus n. gen. characterized by a caudal bursa of Calypsostrongylus type and absence of synlophe. Nippostrongylinae: - Malaistrongylus n. gen. characterized by a synlophe of Heligmonoides type but with a larger number of ridges and by the fusion of rays 4 and 5 in the caudal bursa. - Rattus strongylus n. gen. characterized by small, subequal dorsal left ridges and a total number of ridges less than 20. - Sabanema n. gen. characterized by small subequal dorsal left ridges and a total number of ridges greater than 30. The species under consideration are the following: Hepatojarakus malayae Yeh, 1955; Pithecostrongylus bicapitatus n. sp. (= P. bicapitatus Ow Yang, 1967, in litt); Macrostrongylus ratti n. gen., n. sp. (= Macrostrongylus ratti Ow Yang, 1967, in litt.); Calypsostrongylus malayensis Durette-Desset, 1976 (= Brevistriata malayensis Ow Yang, 1967, in litt); Fissicauda callosciuri (Supperer et Kutzer, 1964); Fissicauda brevispicula n. sp. (= Brevistriata brevispicula Ow Yang, 1967, in litt.); Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Travassos, 1914); Orientostrongylus tenorai Durette-Desset, 1970 (= Longistriata selangora Ow Yang, 1967, in litt.); O. krishnansamyi Durette-Desset et Lim-Boo-Liat, 1974 (= Longistriata malaccae Ow Yang, 1967, in litt.); Heligmonoides bulbosus n. sp. (= Heligmonina (Heligmonoides) bulbosa Ow Yang, 1967, in litt.); Heligmonoides lanceolatus n. sp. (= Heligmonina (Heligmonoides) lanceolata Ow Yang 1967, in litt.); Malaistrongylus odontospicularis n. gen., n. sp. (= Malaistrongylus odontospicularis Ow Yang, 1967, in litt.); Paraheligmonelloides triangulus n. sp. (= Longistriata triangulum Ow Yang, 1967, in litt.); P. annandalei n. sp. (= Longistriata annandalei Ow Yang, 1967, in litt.); P. rajah n. sp. (= Heligmonina (Heligmonoides) rajah Ow Yang, 1967, in litt.); Rattustrongylus odontoconus n. gen., n. sp. (= Longistriata odontocona Ow Yang, 1967, in litt.); R. rotundoconus n. sp. (= Longistriata rotundocona Ow Yang, 1967, in litt.); Sabanema sabana n. gen., n. sp. (= Longistriata sabana Ow Yang, 1967, in litt.); S. kepongi n. sp. (= Longistriata kepongi Ow Yang,
A description is given of cercarial chaetotaxy of two Centrocestinae (Heterophyidae, Opisthorchioidea) from Malaysia: Centrocestus formosanus and Centrocestus sp.--Comparison with cercarial chaetotaxy of taxonomically related groups indicates that 1. The chaetotaxy of the Centrocestinae agrees with that of other Opisthorchioidea, 2. There is an important difference between chaetotaxy of Centrocestinae and other Heterophyidae which suggest that the family is heterogeneous.
To access the effectiveness of the treatment of soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) on the growth of primary school children, 353 children were block stratified to receive either mebendazole plus pyrantel oxantel pamoate every three months or a placebo. The children were followed for two years with 89% completing the trial. Follow-up stools indicated that the treatment was efficacious for ascariasis and trichuriasis. There was virtually no hookworm infection. The children were malnourished as measured by the number below -2 SD of height and weight standards. There was no difference in height or weight between the treatment and control groups by sex initially or at the end of two years of follow-up. The treatment of Ascaris and Trichuris had no effect on growth parameters. The effect of STH on growth may be mediated through hookworm infections.
Schistosoma malayensis n. sp., a member of the Schistosoma japonicum complex is described from Rattus muelleri in Peninsular Malaysia and 2 strains are characterized. The only morphological differences noted among adults from natural hosts were that S. malayensis are in general smaller than S. mekongi and S. japonicum. But these differences may be the result of host-induced variations and therefore are of little taxonomic value. To minimize the effects of host-induced variations, adult worms recovered from laboratory mice with similar worm burdens at 50-56 days postinfection were compared. These comparisons revealed only minor morphometric differences among these 3 species. Schistosoma malayensis eggs from naturally and experimentally infected hosts are most similar to those of S. mekongi, with eggs of both species being, in general, smaller than those of S. japonicum. The egg index for S. malayensis is usually higher than for S. japonicum and lower than for S. mekongi. Differences were noted in the developmental rates in mice for 2 isolates of S. malayensis, S. mekongi, and S. japonicum (Philippine strain), but relatively large differences observed between isolates of S. malayensis indicate that, in this case, the developmental rate is not a useful taxonomic character. Schistosoma malayensis is erected principally on the basis of differences, reported elsewhere, in the life histories and in the electrophoretic migration patterns of isoenzymes of adult worms as compared to S. mekongi and S. japonicum. These comparisons indicate that S. malayensis is more closely related to S. mekongi than to S. japonicum.