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Strongylus vulgaris is a parasite of horses.
Appearance
- Dark red
- Well developed buccal capsule in male
Life cycle
- Eggs shed in faeces onto pasture
- Develop into L3 larvae
- Ingested by horse
- Penetrate intestine mucosa
- Moult in 7 days to L4 in sub-mucosa
- L4 migrate to cranial mesenteric artery
- Develop over months
- Moult to L5
- Migrate to caecum and colon
- Form nodules around the larvae
- Nodules rupture into the lumen of the intestine
- Adults live in the caecum and colon
Pathogenesis
By larvae:
- Disruption to endothelium of blood vessel
- May cause arterial thromboembolism in the horse.
- May cause intestinal infarcts, see General Pathology
By adults:
- Accidental damage to blood vessels as a result of feeding on intestinal mucosa