Faecal examinations for helminth eggs were performed on 1869 people from two riverside localities, Vientiane Municipality and Saravane Province, along the Mekong River, Laos. To obtain adult flukes, 42 people positive for small trematode eggs (Opisthorchis viverrini, heterophyid, or lecithodendriid eggs) were treated with a 20-30 mg kg(-1) single dose of praziquantel and purged. Diarrhoeic stoo...

Samples of the New Zealand cockleAustrovenus stutchburyi (Veneridae) collected at two di¡erent intertidal levels were found to be heavily infected by the echinostome trematode Curtuteria australis which use the mud £at whelk Cominella glandiformis and shorebirds as ¢rst and de¢nitive host, respectively. Parasite loads were on average more than 2-fold higher at the high site than at the low site...

Juvenile English sole (Parophrys vetulus) utilize Yaquina Bay, Oregon as a nursery during at least a portion of their first year of life, but the possibility of the existence of additional nursery grounds offshore has not previously been examined. During 1971, young-of-the-year first appeared in Yaquina Bay in February, were abundant from April to September, and most emigrated to offshore areas...

After infection with the digenetic trematode Echinostoma paraensei, hemolymph of the snail Biomphalaria glabrata contains lectins comprised of 65-kDa subunits that precipitate polypeptides secreted by E. paraensei intramolluscan larvae. Comparable activity is lacking in hemolymph of uninfected snails. Three different cDNAs with sequence similarities to peptides derived from the 65-kDa lectins w...

Human Clonorchis sinensis infection is endemic in East Asian countries. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are anti-oxidant enzymes found in all living creatures as well as in trematodes. In this study, we examined the recombinant 26kDa GST protein of C. sinensis (Cs26GST) for its serodiagnostic antigenicity toward IgG and IgE antibodies by ELISA and immuno-enhanced chemiluminescence, respective...

Nine polymorphic microsatellite loci were characterized from the freshwater trematode Coitocaecum parvum . This parasite can either reproduce sexually in the definitive host or produce eggs by selfing inside its second intermediate host. Two to 11 alleles per locus were detected in 24 trematode sporocysts and observed heterozygosities ranged from 0.04 to 0.96. These loci will be useful for iden...

Prey should adjust their defences against natural enemies to match their current level of risk and balance other needs. This is particularly important when optimal defences represent trade-offs, as is the case with many predator-induced trait-mediated indirect effects (TMIEs) that are antagonistic to those promoting host resistance to parasites and pathogens. However, trade-offs may depend on w...

Parasitic diseases are huge problem for human and veterinary medicine and for economy, agriculture and wildlife management. One of these diseases is fasciolosis, which is caused by two trematode species, Fasciola hepatica (liver fluke) and Fasciola gigantica. Only F. hepatica is a concern in Europe and Americas but the distribution of both species overlaps in many areas of Africa and Asia (Mas-...

Since their widespread appearance in the mid-1990s, malformed amphibians have evoked fear, as well as fascination within the scientific and public communities. Recent evidence from field and laboratory studies has implicated infection by a digenetic trematode--Ribeiroia ondatrae--as an important cause of such deformities. Ribeiroia spp. have a complex life cycle involving planorbid snails, amph...