Incidence of Armillifer armillatus (
pentastome) calcification in the abdomen.
Necropsy revealed the presence of one species of
pentastome (Sebekia mississippiensis), three species of nematodes (Dujardinascaris waltoni, Brevimulticaecum baylisi, Brevimulticaecum tenuicolle) and eight species of trematodes (Acanthostomum coronarium, Acanthostomum loossi, Acanthostomum pavidum, Archaeodiplostomum acetabulata, Crocodilicola pseudostoma, Dracovermis occidentalis, Polycotyle ornata and Pseudocrocodilicola georgiana).
An autopsy specimen showed several living
pentastome nymphs of [approximately equal to]2 cm in size, which were found in the subscapular region of liver parenchyma.
DNA of the
pentastome specimens (2 adults from the snakes, 1 larva from each dog) was extracted by using the QIAGEN Tissue Kit (QIAGEN, Hilden, Germany) and subjected to 18S rRNA and cytochrome c oxidase (cox) gene PCR with primers Pent629F (5 '-CGGTTAAAAAGCTCG TAGTTGG-3 ) and Pent629R (5 -GGCATCGTTTATGG TTAGAACTAGGG-3' [9]) and primers Cox1-F (5'-CT GCGACAATGACTATTTTCAAC-3) and Cox1-R (5 -ATATGGGAAGTTCTGAGTAGG-3 [10]).
serrata, a
pentastome. Ringlike structures in the body wall were interpreted as sclerotized openings, a key feature of
pentastomes.
Because the structures were suspected to be
pentastomes, they were compared with reference material from the Institute of Tropical Medicine Educational Department (Figure, panel B) and confirmed as Armillifer spp.
The
pentastomes of reptiles have zoonotic potential, but among these parasites only Armillifer, Raillietiella, and Porocephalus have been associated with human infections (Riley, 1986; Qiu et al., 2005; Meyers and Neafie, 2011).
The zoonotic implications of
pentastomes are related with the ingestion of water or food contaminated with secretions of the respiratory tract of snakes or the direct ingestion of undercooked meat of snakes (Reid and Jones, 1963).
Life cyles, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of
pentastomes in reptiles: Respiratory Parasites.
This material covers ants, bees, beetles, bed bugs, conenose bugs, wheel bugs, caterpillars, centipedes, cockroaches, earwigs, flies, lice, millipedes, mites, mosquitoes, moths,
pentastomes (tongue worms), scorpions, spiders, ticks, and wasps.