Gnathostoma spinigerum

Gnathostoma spinigerum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Nematoda
Class:	Chromadorea
Order:	Rhabditida
Family:	Gnathostomatidae
Genus:	Gnathostoma
Species:	G. spinigerum
Binomial name
Gnathostoma spinigerum Owen, 1836[1]

Gnathostoma spinigerum is a parasitic nematode that causes gnathostomiasis in humans, also known as its clinical manifestations are creeping eruption, larva migrans, Yangtze edema, Choko-Fuschu Tua chid and wandering swelling.^{[citation needed]} Gnathostomiasis in animals can be serious, and even fatal. The first described case of gnathostomiasis was in a young tiger that died in the London Zoo in 1835.^{[citation needed]} The larval nematode is acquired by eating raw or undercooked fish and meat.

Gnathostoma spinigerum has a multi-host life history. The eggs hatch in fresh water and the larvae are eaten by copepods of the order Cyclopoida.^[2] The copepods are in turn eaten by small fish. Eventually, the larvae end up in the stomachs of carnivores, usually cats and dogs. The larva bores through the stomach wall and migrates around in the host's body for about three months before returning to the stomach and attaching itself in the gastric mucosa. It then takes another six months to mature. The eggs are carried in the host's feces, and if they reach fresh water the cycle begins again. As humans are not a normal host for the larvae, they do not mature in humans, but can cause various degrees of damage, depending on where the larvae wander in the body.