Worm burdens were evaluated and compared in two groups of the guinea pig, Cavia poreellus (Linnaeus, 1758): animals of the first group were conventionally maintained in an institutional animal house and those of the second group were openly kept in pet shops in Brazil. Animals from both sources were infected only with the nematode Paraspidodera uncinata (Rudolphi, 1819) Travassos, 1914 (10% of prevalence in guinea pigs from lhe institutional facility and 40% in those animals from the pet shop). Other helminth samples recovered from Brazilian guinea pigs during 52 years and that are deposited in the Helminthological Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (CHIOC) were also analyzed. Paraspidodera uncinata and the cestode Monoecocestus parcitesticulatus Rêgo, 1960 were identified in these samples.
Helminths; Paraspidodera uncinata; Monoecocestus parcitesticulatus; Cavia poreellus; guinea pig; Brazil