Capillaria philippinensis is a parasitic nematode which causes intestinal capillariasis. This sometimes fatal disease was first discovered in Northern Luzon ...CapillariaphilippinensisFromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopediaJumptonavigationJumptosearchSpeciesofroundwormCapillariaphilippinensisScientificclassificationKingdom:AnimaliaPhylum:NematodaClass:EnopleaOrder:EnoplidaFamily:CapillariidaeGenus:CapillariaSpecies:C. philippinensisBinomialnameCapillariaphilippinensisVelasquez,ChitwoodandSalazar,1968Capillariaphilippinensisisaparasiticnematodewhichcausesintestinalcapillariasis.ThissometimesfataldiseasewasfirstdiscoveredinNorthernLuzon,Philippinesin1964.CaseshavealsobeenreportedfromChina,Egypt,Indonesia,Iran,Japan,Korea,LaoPDR,TaiwanandThailand.[1]CasesdiagnosedinItalyandSpainwerebelievedtobeacquiredabroad,withonecasepossiblycontractedinColombia.[2]ThenaturallifecycleofC.philippinensisisbelievedtoinvolvefishasintermediatehosts,andfish-eatingbirdsasdefinitivehosts.HumansacquireC.philippinensisbyeatingsmallspeciesofinfestedfishwholeandraw.Contents1Discoveryandnomenclature2Hostsandlifecycle3Pathology4Diagnosis5Treatment6ReferencesDiscoveryandnomenclature[edit]Capillariaphilippinensisegg.Betweenthefirstcasereportedin1964andtheendof1967,morethan1000casesweredocumentedinandaroundNorthernLuzonparticularlyatTagudin,IlocosSur,including77deaths.Witchdoctorswerehiredbythelocalstoexorcisethecurseplacedonthembytherivergod,whichtheybelievedwasresponsibleforthissuddendisaster.[3]In1968,thecausewasidentifiedasCapillariaphilippinensis.[4]AdultC.philippinensisareverysmall,withmalesmeasuring1.5-3.9 mmlongand23-28 µmmaximumwidth,whileadultfemalesare2.3-5.3 mmlongand29-47 µmmaximumwidth.Eggsmeasure36-45 µmlongand20 µmwide,andaredescribedaspeanut-shapedwithastriatedshell.ThisspecieshasbeentransferredtothegenusAonchotheca,asAonchothecaphilippinensis,[5]andtothegenusParacapillaria,asParacapillariaphilippinensis.[6]However,thisspeciesisalmostuniversallyreferredtoasCapillariaphilippinensisinthecurr