Natural infections of blackflies with larvae of zoonotic Onchocerca spp. in northeast Japan.

Abstract

Dissections of female blackflies collected while attacking a cow at the Omyojin Farm, Iwate, northern Japan showed that 4.4% of 1,104 Simulium daisense, 0.8%

Blackfly vectors of zoonotic onchocerciasis in Japan

“…A microfilaria of type X was shown to develop to a type III infective larva in S. arakawae by an intrathoracic inoculation experiment, thus supporting the suggestion that type X microfilariae include two species, O. gutturosa and O. lienalis (Takaoka, 1990 (Takaoka et al, 1992;Takaoka, 1994). Adults of O.…”

“…Further investigations of wild-caught female blackflies are needed because the identity of the predominant anthropophilic blackfly species in Honshu differs among localities (e.g. Takaoka et al, 1992).…”

“…To fully understand the complexities of blackfly-borne filarial disease in Japan, more data are required, such as rates of blood-feeding on host animals and humans by blackflies, and population densities of female blackflies and host animals during the transmission season, which differs in duration according to latitude and varies, for example, from late spring (May) to middle autumn (October) in central Kyushu (Takaoka, 1994), to summer only (July and August) in Iwate in northeastern Honshu (Takaoka et al, 1992).…”

“…Because it shared a similar type Y coiled microfilaria, Onchocerca sp. sensu Takaoka & Bain, 1990 was once thought to be Onchocerca suzukii Yagi, Bain & Shoho, 1994, a parasite of Japanese serows in the northern part of Honshu, Japan (Uni et al, 1998), but was eventually shown by DNA analysis to be a new species of Onchocerca distinct from O. suzukii and other known Onchocerca species (Fukuda et al, 2010a (Takaoka et al, 1992;Takaoka, 1994). It is noteworthy that the infective larvae found in female Simulium nodosum Puri, 1933 collected in Chiang Mai, Thailand, are morphologically very similar to those (type I) of Onchocerca sp.…”

Redescription and ecological notes on immature stages of two species of Korean black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae)

“…Immature stages were naturally infected with filarial nematodes ( Onchocerca sp.) (Takaoka et al . 1992; Fukuda et al .…”