Course of Egg Output over a 15 Year Period in a Case of Experimentally Induced Necatoriasis Americanus, in the Absence of Hyperinfection

Abstract

There are presented here the results of periodic egg counts in the course of an experimental infection with Necator americanus, from the beginning of the patent period to the natural cessation of infection 15 years later. The infection was originally induced with an undetermined number of cultured larvae in a healthy 21-year old white male in order to study the daily egg output during the early patent period. The results of the first 151 days of study have been reported (Palmer, 1941). An attempt was then made to eradicate the infection, first with tetrachlorethylene and then carbon tetrachloride. Only two females and one male were recovered, and egg counts were not affected by treatment. At that time it was decided to continue following the infection until egg-laying had ceased, presumably marking the point at which all females had been shed from the intestine. It is believed with assurance that hyperinfection did not occur during the 15 years of observation.