Infectivity of Hymenolepis diminuta for the jird, Meriones unguiculatus, and utility of this model for anthelmintic studies.

The jird (Meriones unguiculatus) has been shown to be a useful model host for the cestodes Taenia crassiceps and Echinococcus multilocularis. This report outlines a novel model in which hydrocortisone-treated jirds (0.02% in the feed) are infected with another cestode, Hymenolepis diminuta. Jirds were inoculated with 5 freshly harvested cysticercoids of H. diminuta prior to (day 0, -1, or -5) or after (day 1 or 5) switching to medicated feed; in some cases, jirds were never medicated. On days 7, 14, 21, or 28 postinoculation (PI), jirds were killed by CO2 inhalation and their small intestines were examined for tapeworms. Hymenolepis diminuta established, grew, and developed to the gravid adult state in jirds. They persisted longer in medicated (21 days) than in nonmedicated (7 days) animals, and generally higher levels of infection were obtained when jirds were inoculated immediately prior to switching to medicated feed. Treatment of infected jirds on day 4 or days 4, 5, and 6 PI with selected anthelmintics followed by necropsy on day 7 PI discriminated drugs with known activity against tapeworms from those with little or no activity. This rodent in vivo model should provide a useful adjunct for anthelmintic studies.