Spirocercosis in Uganda and its association with fibrosarcoma in a dog

Abstract

Abstract— —The occurrence of Spirocerca lupi in Uganda is recorded. Two cases of spirocercosis are described in which the nematodes were found within tumours in the walls of the oesophagus. In the first tumour, a low grade fibrosarcoma was found around some worms, but the second tumour was not examined histologically. The disease which appears to be very common in Uganda had not been recorded earlier because more than 99 per cent of dogs which die in Uganda are not necropsied, and faecal examination, which is the practiced method of diagnosis, often fails to show the presence of the parasites.