Giant Kidney Worm
Neartic, Neotropical : Asia, Europe, North America, Brazil.
Occurs in temperate forest and grassland, tropical rainforest, freshwater lake, freshwater rivers
Humans may be infected by consumption of molluscs that are infected with Dioctophyme renale.
Common parasite in minks, domestic dogs, wild mammals of North America, Europe, and Asia.
While the most common host is mink, intermediate and definitive hosts may include: annelids, freshwater molluscs, crustaceans, fishes, frogs, mink, domestic dogs, man, and grisons.
The worm lives in the right kidney of its definitive hosts.
In the definitive host it feeds in the kidney.
Eggs of Dioctophyme renale develop in an aquatic (freshwater) environment and hatch into an aquatic larval stage that uses an annelid as an intermediate host. In the annelid, it develops into a third larval stage.
Once it has developed into its third stage, it seeks either freshwater molluscs, crustaceans, fishes, or frogs, as a second intermediate host.
The secondary intermediate host is then consumed by a carnivore which becomes the definitive host.
The most common definitive host is the mink and the process is repeated when infected mink urine containing the worm eggs is transmitted into an aquatic environment.
Barros, D. 1990. "Dioctophymosis in the little
grison". Journal of Wildlife Diseases. 538-539.
Measures, L. 1985. "Centrarchid fish as paratenic hosts of
the giant kidney worm, Dioctophyme renale". Journal of
Wildlife Diseases. 11-19.
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Key to Parasitic Nematodes 1991