The Invasion of Helminth Eggs by Chytridiacean Fungi

Abstract

The material forming the basis of this paper consists of the two fungi, Catenaria anguillulæ Sorokin and Rhizophidium carpophilum Zopf, which were found parasitic on the eggs of Dibothriocephalus latus in the Helminthology Department in March, 1927. The stool containing the eggs had been washed in laboratory tap water and this was evidently the vehicle of the fungus infection. A sediment obtained from one of the water tanks from which the laboratory is supplied was found to contain infusoria, rotifers and other forms likely to act as hosts for the fungi, and that this was the source of the original infection was proved on more than one occasion by placing some of the sediment in a petri dish along with some uninfected eggs of D. latus, when a new infection of both the fungi appeared in the eggs.In the following paper the fungi are described and an account is given of some experimental work that was carried out with a view to determining the possibility of employing such parasites as a control measure in helminthiasis.