Acanthocephalan of Some Birds with Some Histopathological Changes

The acanthocephala constitute an important group of worms, unlike trematodes they lack a mouth and digestive system. Research workers all over the world are continuously engaged in finding out more and more facts about parasites for better prevalence and control measures. In Pakistan, parasitology on the whole is a neglected field of study, inspite of the fact that parasite infections are one of the major causes of disease in human and animals. In Pakistan researchers and students always face difficulty in locating the parasite fauna of this region specially the birds, therefore it is thought necessary to prepare a list of birds and acanthocephala of this region, because many species of acanthocephala found in Pakistan are not reported yet. During the present study some species of acanthocephalan were also recovered which were presented here, alongwith histopathological changes, changes revealed necrosis, inflammation and degeneration especially the areas where parasite physically not present. Observation and results were presented in the form of photographs and drawing. This work is valuable for students of parasitology, teachers and research workers in this field.