Fig. 65.—Head of Oxyuris curvula. Highly magnified. After Busk.
The next nematode of general interest is the pinworm (Oxyuris curvula). Professional men often confound it with the palisade worm, and it has even been mistaken for the rat-tail maggot (Helophilus). The longest males measure 13/4″, and the females often beyond 4 inches. This worm infests the colon in great numbers, the species being easily recognised by its long subulate tail. Like its much smaller congener infesting man, this worm occasions severe local irritation, clusters of the eggs often accumulating to form yellow incrustations at the verge of the anus. Equine pinworms are vegetable feeders, and, like human Oxyurides, are conveyed to the bearer in a direct manner. No horse properly looked after can be infested by these worms. Local washings and stable cleanliness being secured by an attentive groom, the animals are safe. Prophylactic measures of this kind are all-powerful against infection. Notwithstanding the ease, however, with which the oxyuris disorder may both be prevented and cured, we find it prevails extensively everywhere, alike in mankind and in solipeds. Dr Sonsino found these parasites abundant in Egypt, some of the worms reaching a length of nearly five inches (120 mm.). Mr Emmerson has given an interesting account of the prejudicial effects of these entozoa in the horses of Singapore.
One of the most remarkable equine parasites is that which I am in the habit of calling the large-mouthed maw-worm (Spiroptera megastoma), in contra-distinction to the small-mouthed species (S. microstoma). In this country the worm has attracted little notice, but through the kindness of Mr Spooner Hart, of Calcutta, and of Mr Percivall, of the 11th Hussars, stationed at Umballa, I have had abundant opportunities of examining this entozoon and the singular pathological appearances which it occasions. This parasite was first described by Rudolphi, who says:—“Spiroptera capitis discreti ore magno nudo, cauda feminæ rectiuscula acuta, mavis simpliciter spirali, corpusculis rotundis ad basim penis styliformis.” The worm was afterwards observed by Schultze, Chabert, and frequently also by Andral, but the best accounts of it are those given by Gurlt, Valenciennes, and Dujardin. Schneider has likewise done much to set at rest disputed points. Respecting the Spiroptère du Cheval, Dujardin, writing in 1844, observes that “Rudolphi at first studied this helminth from examples found in great number by Reckleben, at Berlin, in tubercles of the stomach of two horses. Quite recently, M. Valenciennes, at Paris, has found it frequently in tumours, from twenty to forty millimètres in size, in the stomach of eleven horses out of twenty-five that he had subjected to this kind of research. These tumours, lodged between the mucous and muscular layers of the digestive canal, are perforated by several holes traversing the mucous membrane. They are divided internally by a number of folds into numerous intercommunicating cavities, and sometimes filled with solid mucus and very many spiropteras. It is from examples collected by M. Valenciennes that I have been able to study the parasite.”
As regards the description of the worm, it is almost needless to say that Dujardin’s account is minute and admirable in all respects. In fact, no naturalist ever exceeded the Rennes savant in carefulness and accuracy of detail. An interesting point connected with these stomach-worms lies in the circumstance that Gurlt recognised two varieties, one of which he termed Sp. meg., var. major. It remained for Schneider to show that the larger worms formed an altogether distinct species, which he termed Filaria microstoma (‘Monogr.,’ l. c., 1866, s. 98). It was not unnatural that Rudolphi and his successors should confound these two forms together, and it is also not a little curious that the smaller of the two species has the larger mouth. Practically, veterinarians will probably rest content to know that whilst the Spiroptera megastoma occupies tumours in the walls of the stomach, the S. microstoma is always to be found free in the cavity of that organ. Any helminthologist who may chance to have read the Ceylon Company’s report on the fatal epidemic affecting the mules of the Mauritius in 1876 can scarcely fail to have observed that the worm called Ascaris vermicularis by Mr Bradshaw is none other than our Sp. megastoma. The description of the tumours as “reticulated” sufficiently explains their honeycomb-like appearance, but I think that the expression “alveolar” would better convey their true pathological character. Mr Spooner Hart compared these structures, which he terms “abodes,” to mole-hills, but there is no good ground for supposing that the wanderings of the parasites are in any sense comparable to the burrowings of the mole. In like manner the expression “nidus,” employed by Mr Bradshaw, though suggestive of their nest-like appearance, is to some extent misleading, as it implies that the worms form a nide or brood. Possibly, it may turn out that all the nematodes in each tumour have been bred in the spot where they are found, but hitherto they have only been seen in the adult state. Earlier stages of growth should be diligently sought for. Widely dissimilar as the two maw-worms are, it would not greatly surprise me to learn that Sp. megastoma and S. microstoma are dimorphic conditions of one and the same entozoon. At all events, Ercolani’s determination of the relations subsisting between Ascaris inflexa and A. vesicularis suggests a possible analogy of this kind. I may mention that the male Spiroptera megastoma reaches nearly one third and the female one half of an inch in length. A constriction separates the head from the body. The mouth is surrounded by four thick horny lips, the dorso-ventral pair being the larger. The tail of the male is spirally twisted, and furnished with lateral bands supported by three or four ribs. It carries two curved spicules of unequal size. There are five pairs of caudal papillæ, the tail being bluntly pointed in both sexes. The vulva of the female is placed about 1/7″ below the head. The eggs are linear or very narrow, and furnished with thick shells. According to Sonsino, who found Sp. megastoma in five out of sixteen Egyptian horses, the verminiferous growths are usually seated near the pyloric end of the stomach, as many as four tumours occurring at one time. Neither Sonsino nor any other observers already quoted appear to think that these morbid changes in any way interfere with the healthy performance of the gastric functions. However, I am of opinion that at least one recorded fatal case of parasitism, producing rupture of the stomach, affords an instance, however rare, of the injurious action of this entozoon. It is reported under the signature of “Argus,” quoted below.
In this connection I may mention that in 1864 Prof. Axe observed some small worms, scarcely visible to the naked eye, in the mucous membrane of the stomach of a donkey, the same worms being subsequently observed in three other donkeys brought to the dissecting room of the Royal Veterinary College. From the examination of a drawing of one of the male worms, executed by Prof. Simonds, I am led to believe that the parasites are entirely new to science. The hood being well marked there can be no doubt as to the strongyloid affinities of the worm. I therefore propose to call the worm after its discoverer (Strongylus Axei).
In regard to Sp. microstoma, the males measure up to 2/3″, whilst the females have a long diameter of 3/4″ or rather more (10‴). The small-mouthed maw-worm lives free in the stomach, and, as Krabbe observes, not unfrequently in very considerable numbers. It does not appear to be capable of injuring the host.
One of the most interesting equine nematodes is the eye-worm. Most veterinary writers speak of it as the Filaria oculi, but to helminthologists it is better known by the more correct designation, F. papillosa. Though commonly obtained from the eyeball and its tunics, the worm infests various tissues and organs of the body, being found in the thorax, abdomen, membranes of the brain, muscles, and cellular tissues. It infests the ass and mule, and also horned ruminants. The males attain a length of three inches and the females seven inches. The head is broad, with a gaping mouth armed with a ring of chitine and two prominent denticles. There are also two papillæ on the neck near the middle line, besides sixteen caudal papillæ, eight on either side. The tail of the male is spirally twisted, that of the female only slightly curved. Notwithstanding the many opportunities afforded of examining this parasite in the fresh state, very little is known respecting its origin and course of development. Dr Manson, who found that the mouth was armed with a five- or six-toothed oral saw, considers that the eye is not a proper resting place for the parasite, and that when one wandering worm comes across the track of another it follows it up from sexual instinct, and thus several may be found together in one place. The tracks are readily seen by the naked eye. Dr Sonsino speaks of it as a “yellow line.” This Italian observer found the worm in twelve out of the sixteen solipeds he examined during the plague. Each horse showed from two to a dozen worms “in the peritoneal cavity, wandering free on the serous lining, without causing any apparent mischief to the membrane.” On one occasion Sonsino found the worm in the liver. From the similarity of habit there can be little doubt that the cases of guinea-worm (F. medinensis) recorded by Clarkson and others, as occurring in the horse, were merely examples of F. papillosa. I think so all the more because the lamented Fedschenko verbally expressed to me his astonishment that I had in my introductory treatise (p. 387) spoken of the Dracunculus as an equine parasite. I did so on the authority of others. To the Rev. Horace Waller I am indebted for specimens of the eye-worm brought from Assam, and to Mr Spooner Hart for others sent from India. For examples occurring in England I am indebted to Mr Haydon Leggett, who, in 1875, sent me three specimens extracted from the eye of a five-year-old mare. Mr Steel has also given me an example of F. papillosa taken from the peritoneum of a donkey. Similar cases are constantly occurring in the practice of veterinarians in Hindostan. Highly interesting Indian cases are recorded by Kennedy, Molyneux, Twining, and Breton, and in addition to these I may also particularise those of Macnamara, C. Percivall, Hickman, Clarkson, Skeavington, and Jeaffreson. The cases by Lee and Grellier also deserve attention.
Another species of thread-worm (Filaria lacrymalis) is occasionally found in the horse between the lids and eyeball. It is a comparatively small and harmless parasite, the males measuring 1/2″ in length and the females 2/3″. It also infests the ox. Both the large and small eye-worms are viviparous, and, not improbably, both of them are the means of conveying embryonic Filariæ into the circulation. Be this as it may, we owe to Dr Sonsino the discovery of hæmatozoa in an Egyptian horse. The larval worm was provisionally named by him Filaria sanguinis equi. The microscopic nematodes closely resemble the larvæ of F. sanguinis hominis, but they are smaller. The horse from whose blood Dr Sonsino obtained the minute worms was also found, by post-mortem examination, to have been infested by Filaria papillosa, a circumstance which naturally suggested a genetic relation between the larval and adult parasites. Similar, if not the same, microscopic worms had been previously discovered by Wedl, who primarily and independently regarded them as embryos of F. papillosa. Another curious filaria-like entozoon is the reticulated threadworm (Onchocerca reticulata). In England we have no acquaintance with this singular parasite, but it appears to be tolerably common in Italy. Excellent figures of it have been given by Diesing. Both males and females are in the habit of coiling themselves within the muscles, where they are found invested by a capsule of connective tissue. When unrolled the sexes are found of equal size, acquiring a length of 11/2″. The worm has a simple unarmed mouth, its body being marked by a series of annulations formed of incompletely anastomosing rings. It does not appear to possess any clinical importance.
In connection with the equine nematodes I need only mention the lung-worm (Strongylus micrurus). Its importance in relation to the production of husk or parasitic bronchitis in calves has already been considered. The worm is rarely productive of mischief amongst solipeds, nevertheless, in the dissecting-room subjects at the Royal Veterinary College, the presence of these parasites in the lungs is frequently noticed. Lastly, it only remains for me to observe that the renal strongyle (S. gigas) is occasionally seen in the horse. In 1792 M. Chabert found one in the left kidney, and similar cases have since either been witnessed or reported by Rudolphi and Leblanc.