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Fasciola hepatica

Fasciola hepatica

Fasciola hepatica

Taxonomy

  • Kingdom Animalia
  • Phylum Platyhelminthes
  • ClassTrematoda
  • Subclass Digenea
  • Order Echinostomata
  • Family Fasciolidae
  • Genus Fasciola

Final host

  • Herbivorous mammals

    Morphology

  • Adult: leaf-shaped (≈ 2.5 - 3.5 cm x 1 cm), anterior end is conical
  • Ventral sucker located at the level of the shoulders
  • Tegument covered with bacwardly projecting microscopic spines
  • Intestinal ceca, testes and ovary are multi-branched
  • Vitelline glands fill the side margins of the body
  • The ovary is placed to the right of the ootype
  • The testes ocupy the posterior two-thirds of the body
  • The uterus is anterior to the testes
  • The eggs are large (≈ 130-150 × 65- 90 µm) with an operculate golden-yellow shell enterely filled with granular contents

    Cycle

  • Indirect with one intermediate host: amphibious snail (Galba truncatula)

    Location

  • Liver: larger bile ducts

    Feeding

  • Juveniles: liver parenchimal tissue
  • Adults: haematophagous

    Diagnostic

  • Egg

    Transmission

  • Metacercaria (environmental)