Hymenolepis muris-sylvaticae in laboratory rodents

The establishment, growth, survival and distribution of Hymenolepis muris-sylvaticae in different laboratory animals (Wistar rats, golden hamsters, CFLP and NMRI mice) after oral infection and surgical transplantation were determined. Worms that establish in CFLP and NMRI mice grow exponentially but are rejected at different times p.i. depending on the strain of mice and mode of infection. Only in golden hamsters will H. muris-sylvaticae develop to a mature worm; in rats there is no growth at all. Worms of all sizes are found in the posterior half of the small intestine in rats and both strains of mice; in hamsters the worms are recovered more anteriorly.