Preliminary survey ofCapillaria hepatica(Bancroft, 1893) in Malaysia

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe prevalence ofCapillaria hepatica(Bancroft, 1893) infection in a total of 2324 rats trapped from 25 localities in West Malaysia was 15.5%. Infection rates in males (16.0%) and females (15.1%) are similar. A significantly higher percentage of adults (18.1%) than young (7.7%) was infected.Capillaria hepaticainfection rates amoung urban (0.7%) and jungle (0.0%) rats was very low as compared to field rats (17.7%) trapped from agricultural areas such as oil palm estates and rice growing areas.Prevalence ofC. hepaticainfection in rats is not evenly distributed throughout West Malaysia. There seem to be localised foci of infection. In some areas as many as 77.8% of the adult rats are found to be infected while in other areas the same species of rats are found free of infection.