On Cardiofilaria nilesi in Experimentally Infected Chickens with a Note on the Morphology and Periodicity of the Microfilariae

Abstract

The course of infection of chickens experimentally infected with C. nilesi suggested an immune response against the microfilariae. Autopsy findings of 6 experimentally infected chickens are given. In a chicken which received 32 infective larvae, when the peripheral blood was microfilaria negative for a period of 10 days, autopsy revealed 2 live active female and 3 live active male adult worms. These, when implanted in a clean 3 week old experimental chicken, produced a peripheral microfilaraemia for a further 63 days. When no peripheral microfilariae were detected for a period of 17 days, the recipient chicken was autopsied and microfilariae were found in the lung impression smears, although none of the implanted adult worms were found.The morphology, structure and nocturnal subperiodicity of the microfilariae are described.