Interactions between the nematode parasite of pigs, Ascaris suum, and the earthworm Aporrectodea longa

Pig faeces in which Ascaris suum eggs had been embryonating for 57 days wer e placed in buckets of soil containing either 30 or no earthworms (Aporrect odea longa). When present, earthworms consumed the faeces and transported t he eggs down into the soil, without inflicting any visible damage on the eg gs. In later experiments 10 earthworms from the above experiment were fed t o each of ten pigs, and another 40 earthworms were dissected. None of the 1 0 pigs became infected with A. suum through consumption of earthworms, and none of the dissected earthworms were found to contain A. suum larvae. This experiment indicates that A. longa did not act as a paratenic host for A. suum but shows that earthworms are very efficient in transporting A. suum e ggs from faeces deposited on the soil surface into the soil.