Fasciola hepatica is a trematode that causes zoonosis mainly in cattle and sheep and occasionally in humans. Fascioliasis has been reported in Korea; however, determining F. hepatica infection in snails has not been done recently. Thus, using PCR, we evaluated the prevalence of F. hepatica infection in snails at 4 large water-dropwort fields. Among 349 examined snails, F. hepatica-specific internal transcribed space 1 (ITS-1) and/or ITS-2 markers were detected in 12 snails and confirmed using sequence analysis. Morphologically, 213 of 349 collected snails were dextral shelled, which is the same aperture as the lymnaeid snail, the vectorial host for F. hepatica. Among the 12 F. hepatica-infected snails, 6 were known first intermediate hosts in Korea (Lymnaea viridis and L. ollula) and the remaining 6 (Lymnaea sp.) were potentially a new first intermediate host in Korea. It has been shown that the overall prevalence of the snails contaminated with F. hepatica in water-dropwort fields was 3.4%; however, the prevalence varied among the fields. This is the first study to estimate the prevalence of F. hepatica infection using the vectorial capacity of the snails in Korea.
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Distribution and Fasciola infection rates of Lymnaea snails and cattle in high-salinity areas of Mekong Delta, Vietnam Dang Thi LOAN, Lam Thanh NGUYEN, Tran Ngoc BICH, Nguyen Thuy Y VI, Yasunobu MATSUMOTO Journal of Veterinary Medical Science.2025; 87(3): 291. CrossRef
Susceptibility of lymnaeid snails to Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica (Digenea: Fasciolidae): a systematic review and meta-analysis Philile Ignecious Ngcamphalala, Ignore Nyagura, Mokgadi Pulane Malatji, Samson Mukaratirwa PeerJ.2025; 13: e18976. CrossRef
Green vegetable juice as a potential source of human fascioliasis in Korea Sungim Choi, Sunghee Park, Sooji Hong, Hyejoo Shin, Bong-Kwang Jung, Min Jae Kim One Health.2022; 15: 100441. CrossRef
Snail-borne parasitic diseases: an update on global epidemiological distribution, transmission interruption and control methods Xiao-Ting Lu, Qiu-Yun Gu, Yanin Limpanont, Lan-Gui Song, Zhong-Dao Wu, Kamolnetr Okanurak, Zhi-Yue Lv Infectious Diseases of Poverty.2018;[Epub] CrossRef
Morphological Characterization of Emerging Cercariae among Lymnaeid Snails from Barangay Cawongan, Padre Garcia, Batangas, Philippines Gregorio L. Martin I, Esperanza C. Cabrera Journal of Parasitology Research.2018; 2018: 1. CrossRef
A Case of Fascioliasis in A Wild Nutria, Myocastor coypus, in Republic of Korea Hyo-Seok Kim, Joo-Yeon Kong, Jong-Hyun Kim, Seong-Chan Yeon, Il-Hwa Hong The Korean Journal of Parasitology.2018; 56(4): 375. CrossRef
Monitoring of Fasciola Species Contamination in Water Dropwort by COX1 Mitochondrial and ITS-2 rDNA Sequencing Analysis In-Wook Choi, Hwang-Yong Kim, Juan-Hua Quan, Jae-Gee Ryu, Rubing Sun, Young-Ha Lee The Korean Journal of Parasitology.2015; 53(5): 641. CrossRef
Ectopic Human <i>Fasciola hepatica</i> Infection by an Adult Worm in the Mesocolon Ah Jin Kim, Chang Hwan Choi, Sun Keun Choi, Yong Woon Shin, Yun-Kyu Park, Lucia Kim, Suk Jin Choi, Jee Young Han, Joon Mee Kim, Young Chae Chu, In Suh Park The Korean Journal of Parasitology.2015; 53(6): 725. CrossRef
First
Prev
