Using histochemical and cytophotometric methods, enzymes responsible for the membrane transport (alkaline phosphatase, adenosine triphosphatase, and 5-nucleotidase) in the developing sporocyst of Fasciola hepatica (L., 1758) were studied. The most active metabolism occurred in the germ balls of sporocysts on the 8th and 15th days of development, which is associated with intensive proliferation ...

Triclabendazole (TCBZ) is the drug of choice for Fasciola hepatica control and reports of F. hepatica resistant to this drug from a wide range of geographic regions are very concerning. This study investigated the presence of TCBZ resistance in F. hepatica in naturally infected Australian beef and dairy cattle herds and evaluated methods of measuring the levels of resistance. Faecal egg count a...

Inter-simple sequence repeats markers were used to determinate the genetic variability of Fasciola hepatica populations recovered from sheep and cattle from Spain (Sp1, Sp2, Sp3 and Sp4), UK (Eng), Ireland (Ir) and Mexico (Mex). Twenty five primers were tested but only five produced 39 reproducible bands, being 71.79% polymorphic bands. This percentage ranged from 10.26% in Sp4 to 48.72% in Sp1...

Fasciola hepatica infection challenges health, welfare and productivity of small ruminants throughout the world. The distribution of F. hepatica in sheep in Europe is usually scattered and studies are generally concerned with a single area making it difficult to compare results from different environments, climates and management regimes. In order to elucidate the current scenario in terms of p...

Two cases of aberrant migration by the liver fluke Fasciola gigantica in humans are reported. In both cases, subadult worms emerged through the skin. The identity of the worms was confirmed from their DNA sequences. This uncommon human pathogen might be more likely than F. hepatica to undertake aberrant migrations in humans.

Livestock infection by the parasitic fluke Fasciola hepatica causes major economic losses worldwide. The excretory-secretory (ES) products produced by F. hepatica are key players in understanding the host-parasite interaction and offer targets for chemoand immunotherapy. For the first time, subproteomics has been used to compare ES products produced by adult F. hepatica in vivo, within ovine ho...

A cDNA containing a 813 bp open reading frame encoding vitelline protein BI (FgVPBI) of Fasciola gigantica was cloned. FgVPBI has 96% sequence identity with VPBI of Fasciola hepatica and 84% identity with VPBII F. hepatica. It is far less similar to eggshell precursor proteins of other trematode species, for example, 29% identity with C. sinensis. Northern blot hybridization of total RNA from a...

Anthelmintic resistance (AR) to Fasciola hepatica is emerging worldwide. Recently, AR to the adulticide compound albendazole (ABZ) was shown in Argentina and Spain. In Sweden, ABZ treatment failure against F. hepatica was first reported in sheep in 2012. The present study tested the efficacy of ABZ and triclabendazole (TCBZ) in sheep naturally infected with F. hepatica using a combination of th...

FhSAP-2 is a novel member of the Fasciola hepatica saposin-like protein family that induces protection in rabbits against a challenge infection. We investigated the presence of lineal B-cell epitopes within this protein using a set of overlapping synthetic peptides. Peptides were tested in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays against sera from rabbits infected with F. hepatica. Two dominant epito...