Transmammary infection of newborn by larval trematodes.

Newborn cats and mice became infected with Alaria marcianae if they nursed from females that had been experimentally infected with the parasite. All lactating females showed mesocercarial stages in their mammary glands. This may be the first trematode found to undergo transmission through the mammary glands under experimental conditions. Similarities in the behavior of mesocercariae in humans and in the mouse suggest that an infected human female might infect her infant if she elected to nurse it.