1990 Volume 43 Issue 11 Pages 808-811
The migration route of the diploid type of Paragonimus westermani in catswas examined. Twenty-seven cats were each inoculated orally with 20 metacercariae of this lung fluke and bled to death under anesthesia at various intervals, from 1 hr to 245 days, after inoculation. The recovery rate of the flukes averaged60.9% of the inoculated metacercariae. The location of the flukes recovered was as follows: the intestinal wall at 1 to 6 hrs, skeletal muscles at 1 to 21 days, pleural cavity at 28 days, and lungs at 35 days or later after inoculation. It was suggested that the flukes excysted in the intestinal lumen, migrated to the skeletal muscles through the intestinal wall and peritoneal cavity, lodged in themuscles, and then migrated to the lungs through the peritoneal and pleural cavities. In the lungs, the flukes were first found at 28 days after inoculation and almost all flukes detected were located there at 49 days or later after inoculation. The eggs appeared for the first time in the feces 55 to 79 days (66 days onaverage) after inoculation. Therefore staying in the lungs for about 30 days seemed to be necessary for flukes to reach sexual maturity and to discharge eggs.
