NEIHPID

Capillaria hepatica (Travassos Travassos) Bancroft 1894 Back

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Taxonomy

Nematoda »
       ADENOPHOREA »
               Trichuridae (Ransom, 1911) Railliet, 1915 »
                     Capillarinae Railliet, 1915 »
                             Capillaria Zeder, 1800 »
                                    Capillaria hepatica (Bancroft 1894), Travassos 1915

Host

Berylmys (mackenziei), Berylmys (bowersi), Mus (musculus), Niviventer (fulvescens), Ratus (nitidus), Ratus (ratus)

Habitat

Liver

Locality

Darlawn (Mizoram), Hlimen (Mizoram), Lungleng (Mizoram), Khawzawl (Mizoram)

Description

Yellowish patches as the worm deposits masses of eggs on the liver surface. Body very slender; Oesophagus with stichocytes; well developed ventral and bacillary bands; sometimes eggs only indication of infection; worms disappear after oviposition; eggs with bipolar plugs, outer layer of shell traversed by numerous rod like structure giving radially-striated appearance, measuring 0.046-0.05× 0.024-0.028 in size.

Female: Vulva right behind oesophagus, provided with protrusible, membranous funnel like structure.

Male: Posterior extremity of male blunt, without alae; pair of subventral lobes behind cloacal aperture and papilla at the base of lobe; well developed chitinized spicule, spicule sheath membranous and protrusible without spines.

Remarks

C. hepatica is a cosmopolitan parasite, which is commonly found in the liver of rodents. Owing to its body being very slender and tightly entangled in the liver tissue, recovery of the whole worm is mostly difficult. In India it has been reported from several parts of the country by various workers eg. Raja (1974), Niphadkar and Sardeshpande (1978), Naidu and Thakare (1980), Somvanshi et al. (1995), Chahota et al. (1997) and Bhattacharya et al. (1998). Raut et al. (2003) reported this parasite among bandicoot rats, Bandicota indica and Patel et al. (2004) and Bhattacharya et al. (2005), among the rats in Pondicherry.

The present study gives the first report from Mizoram, Northeast India and R. nitidus, B. mackenziei, B. bowersi, N. fulvescens are new hosts reported for C. hepatica.

Helminthological collections record

NEHU/Z - NM (Rat)2

References

Raja EE. 1974. Parasitic infections in rodents, especially those communicable to man and animals. Cheiron. 3(2): 173-174.

Niphadkar SM and Sardeshpande PD. 1978. Study on the ecology and histopathology of Capillaria hepatica in rats in Bombay. Abstracts of the Asian Congress of Parasitology. Haffkine Institute, Bombay. 23-26 February: 309.

Naidu TSV and Thakare VK. 1980. Pathomorphology of liver and bile duct of Bandicoot rat Bandicota indica (Bechstein); infected with the nematode Capillaria hepatica ( Bancroft, 1893) Travassos, 1915. Current Science. 49(11): 451-452.

Somvanshi R, Bhattacharya D, Laha R and Rangarao GSC 1995.  Spontaneous Capillaria hepatica infestation in wild rats (Rattus rattus). Indian Journal of Veterinary Pathology, 19: 44-45.

Chahota R, Asrani RK, Katoch RC and Jitendra KP. 1997.  Hepatic capillariasis in a wild rat (Rattus rattus). Journal of Veterinary Parasitology. 11: 87-90.

Bhattacharya D, Sikdar A, Sarma U, Ghosh AK and Biswas G. 1998. Concurrent infection of Capillaria hepatica and Cysticercus fasciolaris in rat (Rattus rattus), a preliminary note. Indian Veterinary Journal. 75: 486.

Raut CG, Gengaje BB, Nipunage SV, Rajarshsi MP, Vaidya SR, Rane SR, Pol SS and Pohale KN. 2003. Capillaria hepatica infection in a Bandicoot rat Bandicota indica. Journal of Veterinary Parasitology. 17(1): 71-72.

Patel AK, Bhattacharya D, Chattopadhyay UK, Bera AK and Sikdar A. 2004. Capillariasis in rats: Prevalence and pathoanatomical evaluation. Journal of Veterinary Parasitology. 18 (1): 17-21.

Bhattacharya A, Kumar VJA and Rekha VB. 2005 Capillaria hepatica infections among rats in Pondicherry. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences. 75(6): 652-653.