Brugia patei (Buckley, Nelson, & Heisch, 1958) Buckley, 1960
In 1958, Buckley et al. described a new species of Brugia collected from dogs, cats, and civet cats on the Pate Island of Kenya Africa. In 1960, Buckely created the new genus Brugia to contain this and two other similar worms. Buckley in 1958 had brought the worms to London in female mosquitoes, Mansoniaafricana and Mansoniauniformis, and infections were then maintained in experimentally infected cats (Laurence and Pester, 1967). Laurence and Simpson (1968) did show that the spines on the anterior end of this species were smaller than those on either Brugiapahangi or Brugia malayi. The interest in this parasite relative to its presence in Africa had been virtually nonexistent because the parasite has never been reported from man or his food producing animals. The fact that the prevalence rate in cats was 56% at the time of the original description (14 positive cats out of 25 examined) would indicate that this was not a case of incidental or recently imported parasitism.
The spicules of this species are intermediate in length between the species of Brugiamalayi (the longest) and Brugiapahangi (the shortest). The left spicule of the male is 270 m long, and the right spicule is 116 m long. There is probably no good way to distinguish the females. Adccording to the original description, the microfilaria is very similar to that of Brugiamalayi, differing only in having a slightly short cepahlic space.
REFERENCES:
Buckley JJC. 1960. On Brugia gen. nov. for Wuchereria spp. of the “malayi” group, i.e. W. malayi (Brug, 1927), W. pahangi Buckley and Edeson, 1956, W. patei Buckley, Nelson, and Heisch, 1958. Ann Trop Med Parasitol 54:75-77.
Buckley JJC, GS Nelson, RB Heisch. 1958. On Wuchereriapatei n.sp. from the lymphatics of cats, dogs and genet cats on Pate Island, Kenya. J Helm 32:73-80.
Laurence BR, Pester FRN. 1967. Adaptation of a filarial worm, Brugiapatei, to a new mosquito host, Aedestogoi. J Helm 42:309-330.
Laurence BR, Simpson MG. 1968. Cephalic and pharyngeal structures in microfilariae revealed by staining. J. Helm 42:309-330.