Anna Okulewicz

• University of Wrocław

Information on species of parasitic helminths native to Poland is provided by the Pasozytnicze helminty Polski. Gatunki. Zywiciele. Białe Plamy. Until the middle of 2007, there were 1205 species of recorded helminths including 126 species of Monogenea, 338 of Trematoda (Digenea), 279 of Cestoda, 427 of Nematoda and 35 of Acanthocephala. They repres...

Eleven new records of digenean species are reported in birds in Poland, i.e. Tylodelphys immer found in Gavia stellata, Strigea vanderbrokae in Pernis apivorus, Echinostoma academica in Numenius arquata, Echinochasmus euryporus in Buteo buteo, Patagifer parvispinosus and Petasiger grandivesicularis in Tachybaptus ruficollis, Notocotyloides petasatu...

Introduction of the host is the main reason behind introduction of the parasite, e. g., nematodes. The introduction of the Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) in Europe in the 1980s resulted in expansion of the swimbladder nematode Anguillicola crassus which soon invaded not only populations of the European eel (A. anguilla), but also other local fish...

Baylisascaris procyonis is a large nematode of the order Ascaridida, specific for raccoon (Procyon lotor). In North America, raccoons are extremely common in rural, suburban, and urban settings, where they have become well adapted to living alongside people. In the 1930s raccoons were introduced into Europe (i. a. Poland) and Asia for the commercia...

A nematode Dentostomella translucida was found during parasitological examination of a pet Mongolian gerbil Meriones unguiculatus. Gerbils in the wild are known as hosts of this parasite in Asia, pet gerbils — in the USA and Brazil. Our record is the first in Europe. Complete descriptions of male and female individuals are given.

Nematodes, which are the most diverse group of helminths in many aspects, constitute a good model for analysis of specificity. Among this group, we found monoxenous and stenoxenous species with a limited range of hosts and also oligoxenous and polyxenous species with a wide range of hosts. Order Oxyurida is represented mainly by monoxenous and sten...

Parasitic nematodes very rarely exist in birds that are completely or predominantly herbivorous. The investigation of the helminth fauna of Passeriformes in the region of Lower Silesia revealed new hosts for some nematode species. We found in Acrocephalus scirpaceus--Acuaria subula and Microtetrameres inermis; in Fringilla coelebs and in Luscinia m...

Paratenic hosts, especially of nematodes, play a major role in spreading many parasite species. The phenomenon of "paratenic parasitism" is illustrated by examples of development of Syngamus trachea and Proteocephalus longicollis. Moravec introduced a concept of "natural paratenic host" for P. longicollis infecting common sculpion, Cottus gobio, in...

The main source of many zoonoses is soil contaminated with feline and canine faeces. The aim of this study was to examine the degree of soil contamination with geohelminth eggs in the area of Wrocław. Within 2006-2007 a total of 185 soil samples (parks, backyards, playgrounds and city squares) from area were collected and then examined using flotat...

Three male specimens of the eyeworm, Oxyspirura chabaudi, were found during the post mortem examination of one individual of Turdus merula L. (Passeriformes). This is the first record of Turdus merula as a host for O. chabaudi.

During the parasitological examination of wild rodents from the vicinity of Wrocław a single whipworm female was isolated from a field vole Microtus agrestis. The nematode was determined as Trichuris arvicolae. This is the first report of this parasite in Poland.

Paper deals with the results of systematic-ecological investigations of host-parasite relationships in the context of 45 year history of the Parasitological Department at the University of Wrocław. Achievements are concentrated on the presentations of new taxonomic units and rearrangement of classification of parasitic protozoans and tapeworms (J....

Rodents, as mice and rats are the most common laboratory animals used in research and testing. They are seldom investigated for autochthonous ecto- and endoparasites prior their utilization in the experiments. Helminth parasites can alter the interpretation of final results. Pinworms commonly infecting laboratory rodents include mainly the mice pin...

The aim of this study was isolation and examination of Aspiculuris tetraptera somatic proteins and somatic antigens role in eliciting of immune response in laboratory mice. In our investigation 40 laboratory mice (BALB/c strain) were used. To extract the somatic proteins Tris-HCl buffer with NaCl and Triton X-100 was used. The analysis of somatic a...

Estimation data show that the nematodes are one of the most numerous and diverse phyllum of animals on earth. The number of nematode species is estimated as 26,646 including 15,965 parasitic species. Some new species of parasites are still recorded. For example in 2004 a new whipworm, Trichuris feliui, Trichuridae from Talpa europea was described....

The subfamily Capillariinae includes about 300 species of nematodes parasitizing all groups of vertebrates. Taxonomy and systematics of this parasites have been changed many times because of a difficulty in designation of particular species' features. That's why there are a lot of synonyms in this group. Nowadays most authors accept the systematics...

Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) as reservoir of parasites and source of zoonosis. This review presents data from Europe and Poland on the prevalence of helminth and protozoan parasites in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). The most common nematodes were geohelminths: Uncinaria stenocephala, Toxocara canis and Toxocara leonina. As concerning Trichinella genus T. br...

Seventeen helminth species were found in rodents of the species Apodemus agrarius and A. flavicollis, from irrigation fields (Wrocław, Osobowice) and water distribution area (Wrocław, Mokry Dwór). The total prevalence of infection was 66.2%. Dominant species were: Heterakis spumosa in Apodemus agrarius; Heilgmosomoides polygyrus, Trichuris muris in...

Evolution and systematics of nematodes based on molecular investigation. The use of molecular phylogenetics to examine the interrelationships between animal parasites, free-living nematodes, and plant parasites versus traditional classification based on morphological-ecological characters was discussed and reviewed. Distinct differences were observ...

Calodium hepaticum (Bancroft, 1893)--commonly known as Capillaria hepatica is a nematode parasitising in liver of rodents, some domestic and wild mammals: Insectivora, Carnivora, Artiodactyla and Primates including human as well. C. hepaticum is the only nematode--geohelminth, which for the continuity of the life cycle needs the death of the host b...