The larvæ are 500 µ to 750 µ by 15 µ to 25 µ, with a long slender tail about one-third of the total length. The cuticle is transversely striated. The body is flattened. They possess an œsophagus and gut. At the anus there are apparently glandular structures.
The larvæ live and move actively in water for about two days, the majority dying on the third (Leiper). If a number of Cyclops sp. have been collected and isolated in clean water, and the larvæ are now added, the further development can be traced.
Fig. 279.—Transverse section of female Guinea worm; u., uterus containing embryos; i., intestinal canal; o., ovary. (After Leuckart.)
The larvæ enter the Cyclops, according to most authorities, by penetrating the exoskeleton, but according to Leiper this is impossible; they must enter by the mouth and penetrate the gut in order to reach the body cavity. In eight days moult 1 takes place, the striated cuticle being cast off. In ten days moult 2 takes place. In five weeks the larva is mature. If now the infected Cyclops is placed in 0·2 per cent. HCl solution the Cyclops is killed immediately, but the larvæ are stirred into activity, escape from the body, and swim about in the acid. This suggests that infection in nature probably takes place by the swallowing of infected Cyclops; Leiper, by feeding Cyclops containing mature larvæ to a monkey, found in it, post mortem six months later, two immature females 30 cm. long and two males 22 mm. long.
In certain areas the new cases occur principally in June. Five weeks later the larvæ will become mature in Cyclops, so that infection of Cyclops is taking place in July or August, and from then to June about ten months elapse, giving the period of development in man.
Pathology.—The initial induration is accompanied by itching. Urticarial eruptions are described in Dahomey and Mauretania accompanied by fever, rigors, blood-shot conjunctiva, and prostration resembling fungus poisoning. Symptoms last for one to two days, later the worms appear on the surface.
