Brugia patei

Brugia patei

<p align="CENTER"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Brugia patei</b></i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b> (Buckley, Nelson, &amp; Heisch, 1958) Buckley, 1960</b></span></p> <p align="JUSTIFY"></p> <p align="JUSTIFY"><span style="font-size: medium;"> In 1958, Buckley et al. described a new species of </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Brugia</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> collected from dogs, cats, and civet cats on the Pate Island of Kenya Africa. In 1960, Buckely created the new genus </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Brugia</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> to contain this and two other similar worms. Buckley in 1958 had brought the worms to London in female mosquitoes, </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Mansonia</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>africana</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> and </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Mansonia</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>uniformis</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;">, 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 </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Brugia</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>pahangi</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> or Brugia </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>malayi</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;">. 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.</span></p> <p align="JUSTIFY"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The spicules of this species are intermediate in length between the species of </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Brugia</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>malayi</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> (the longest) and </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Brugia</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>pahangi</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> (the shortest). The left spicule of the male is 270 </span><span style="font-family: 'WP MathA';"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">m long, and the right spicule is 116 </span><span style="font-family: 'WP MathA';"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">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 </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Brugia</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>malayi</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;">, differing only in having a slightly short cepahlic space.</span></p> <p align="JUSTIFY"></p> <p align="JUSTIFY"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>REFERENCES:</b></span></p> <p align="JUSTIFY"><span style="font-size: medium;">Buckley JJC. 1960. On </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Brugia</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> gen. nov. for </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Wuchereria</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> spp. of the “malayi” group, i.e. </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>W. malayi</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> (Brug, 1927), </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>W. pahangi</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> Buckley and Edeson, 1956, </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>W. patei</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> Buckley, Nelson, and Heisch, 1958. Ann Trop Med Parasitol 54:75-77.</span></p> <p align="JUSTIFY"><span style="font-size: medium;">Buckley JJC, GS Nelson, RB Heisch. 1958. On </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Wuchereria</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>patei</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> n.sp. from the lymphatics of cats, dogs and genet cats on Pate Island, Kenya. J Helm 32:73-80.</span></p> <p align="JUSTIFY"><span style="font-size: medium;">Laurence BR, Pester FRN. 1967. Adaptation of a filarial worm, </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Brugia</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>patei</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;">, to a new mosquito host, </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Aedes</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>togoi</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;">. J Helm 42:309-330.</span></p> <p align="JUSTIFY"><span style="font-size: medium;">Laurence BR, Simpson MG. 1968. Cephalic and pharyngeal structures in microfilariae revealed by staining. J. Helm 42:309-330.</span></p>