n. a genus of large nematode worms that are intestinal parasites of vertebrates. T. canis and T. cati, the common roundworms of dogs and cats respectively, have life cycles similar to that of the human roundworm, *Ascaris lumbricoides. See toxocariasis.
A disease acquired by swallowing the ova (eggs) of a roundworm which lives in the intestine of cats (Toxocara cati) or dogs (Toxocara canis). In humans, the small larval worms produced by these ova migrate to various parts of the body, including the retina of the EYE, where they then die, producing a small GRANULOMA which in turn may produce allergic reactions. In the eye it may cause choroidretinitis. It is said that 2 per cent of apparently healthy people in Britain have been infected in this way. A course of treatment with thiabendazole is recommended, though the drug has side-effects and should be used with caution in the elderly.... toxocariasis
A winged-like expansion of cuticular integument of nematodes; an expansion at the oesophageal region called “cervical alae”, e.g. in Toxocara species, or at the posterior end called “caudal alae” and in the larval stages of some nematodes the expansion may extend almost entire lateral aspects of the body, these expansions are called “lateral alae”. In Oxyuridae, e.g. Enterobius vermicularis, the cuticle at the anterior end expands dorso-ventrally into “cephalic alae”.... ala
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