Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, 589 D.W. Brooks Dr., Athens, GA, 30601, United States.
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, 180 E. Green St., Athens, GA, 30602, United States.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jan 23;9(1):375. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-37567-7.
Dracunculus medinensis, or human Guinea worm (GW), causes a painful and debilitating infection. The global Guinea Worm Eradication Program (GWEP) has successfully reduced human GW cases from 3.5 million in 21 countries in 1986 to only 30 cases in three remaining countries in 2017. Since 2012, an increase in GW infections in domestic dogs, cats and baboons has been reported. Because these infections have not followed classical GW epidemiological patterns resulting from water-borne transmission, it has been hypothesized that transmission occurs via a paratenic host. Thus, we investigated the potential of aquatic animals to serve as paratenic hosts for D. medinensis in Chad, Africa. During three rainy and two dry season trips we detected no GW larvae in 234 fish, two reptiles and two turtles; however, seven GW larvae were recovered from 4 (1.4%) of 276 adult frogs. These data suggest GW infections may occur from ingestion of frogs but the importance of this route is unknown. Additional studies are needed, especially for other possible routes (e.g., ingestion of fish intestines that were recently shown to be a risk). Significantly, 150 years after the life cycle of D. medinensis was described, our data highlights important gaps in the knowledge of GW ecology.
麦地那龙线虫，或人体几内亚蠕虫（GW），可引起疼痛和使人虚弱的感染。全球麦地那龙线虫根除规划（GWEP）已成功将 1986 年 21 个国家中 350 万例人类 GW 病例减少到 2017 年仅在三个国家还存在 30 例。自 2012 年以来，已报告在国内犬、猫和狒狒中 GW 感染有所增加。由于这些感染不符合源于水传播的经典 GW 流行病学模式，因此推测传播是通过中间宿主发生的。因此，我们在非洲乍得调查了水生动物作为麦地那龙线虫的中间宿主的可能性。在三次雨季和两次旱季旅行中，我们在 234 条鱼、两条爬行动物和两只海龟中均未检测到 GW 幼虫，但从 276 只成年青蛙中发现了 7 条 GW 幼虫。这些数据表明，GW 感染可能是通过吞食青蛙而发生的，但这种途径的重要性尚不清楚。需要开展更多的研究，尤其是对于其他可能的途径（例如，最近发现吞食鱼肠也是一种风险）。值得注意的是，麦地那龙线虫生命周期被描述 150 年后，我们的数据突出了 GW 生态学知识方面的重要空白。
