Some helminthozoonotic infections in Zambia

Parasitic infections constitute an important group of zoonoses. Stool examination of inpatients, medical examinees and out-patients in a sub-tropical environment established that Inermicapsifer madagascariensis and Schistosoma mattheei are occasionally anthropozoonotic in Zambia. Strongyloides fülleborni, a species normally parasitic in primates is not uncommon in man; whether it is anthropozoonotic or a parasite well adapted to man in this part of Africa needs further investigation. The finding of unidentified spiruroid ova was considered to be due to a spurious infection. The need for the differentiation of such organisms from those commonly infecting man is emphasized especially since the literature on such a subject is so sparse in the country and on the continent.