STRONGYLOIDES-STERCORALIS - THE 1ST RODENT MODEL FOR UNCOMPLICATED AND HYPERINFECTIVE STRONGYLOIDIASIS, THE MONGOLIAN GERBIL (MERIONES-UNGUICULATUS)

Strongyloidiasis is the most common endemic helminthiasis in several of the world's industrialized nations, yet relatively little is known about its basic biology and immunobiology because a practical rodent model for the investigation of this clinically important parasitism is lacking. This study reports such a model for use in the investigation of Strongyloides stercoralis infection. Normal male gerbils infected subcutaneously with 1000 infective filariform larvae harbored moderate numbers (83.6 +/- 27.6) of adult worms at 35 days after infection, and a low-grade infection persisted for at least 131 days mimicking the chronicity of human infections. Gerbils treated weekly with 2 mg of methylprednisolone acetate developed hyperinfective strongyloidiasis with up to 8000 autoinfective larvae occurring in these animals at postinfection day 21. Autoinfection never occurred in normal (untreated) gerbils.