ACTIVITY OF CHLAMYDOSPORES OF THE FUNGUS POCHONIA CHLAMYDOSPORIA ON TOXOCARA CANIS EGGS IN LABORATORY CONDITIONS
Autor(es): Juliana Milani Araujo, Jackson Victor de Araújo, Fabio Ribeiro Braga, Lorendane Millena de Carvalho, Dayane Milani Araujo, João Victor Facchini Rodrigues, Samuel Galvão de Freitas, Emy Hiura, Leandro Abreu da Fonseca, Mariele Trevizam Santos, Jeanne Saraiva da Paz
ACTIVITY OF CHLAMYDOSPORES OF THE FUNGUS POCHONIA CHLAMYDOSPORIA ON TOXOCARA CANIS EGGS IN LABORATORY CONDITIONS
» Área de pesquisa: HELMINTOLOGIA
» Instituição: Universidade Federal de Viçosa
» Agência de fomento e patrocinadores: CNPq
Toxocara canis is the causative agent of diseases known as visceral larva migrans and ocular larva migrans in humans. The close association between men and domestic animals is considered a public health hazard. The increasing number of pets has led to a narrowing of contact with humans, increasing the risk of exposure to zoonosis. Children, especially in preschool age, are commonly infected by the ingestion of embryonated eggs. The use of anthelmintic drugs is the common approach to control adult parasites in hosts. However, the literature mentions resistance to some drugs used to control the infection in these animals, especially the pyrantel. Nematophagous fungi have been studied in laboratory conditions as an alternative for the control of T. canis eggs and other potentially zoonotic helminthes. Species of the genus Pochonia are inoffensive to animals and humans and are able to destroy helminth eggs in a short time. This work assessed the predatory activity of chlamydospores of Pochonia chlamydosporia (isolates VC1 and VC4) against Toxocara canis eggs in a 15-day in vitro assay. A total of 1,000 eggs of T. canis were placed in Petri dishes containing 2% water-agar medium with different concentrations of chlamydospores (1,000, 10,000 and 100,000) from each fungal isolate of P. chlamydosporia (treated groups) and 1,000 eggs in Petri dishes without fungus (control group). Egg counts determined ovicidal activity, which was classified as type 1, type 2 and type 3. Significant differences (P<0.01) were found for egg destruction when compared with the control. The highest percentage of egg destruction was found in plates containing 100,000 chlamydospores (68.5% for VC1 and 70.5% for VC4). Chlamydospores of P. chlamydosporia effectively destroyed T. canis eggs and can be used as an alternative method to control this parasite.
