Natural prevalence in Cuban populations of the lymnaeid snail Galba cubensis infected with the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica: small values do matter

Abstract

Natural infections of lymnaeid snails by Fasciola hepatica are of primary importance to study transmission. Also, infected snails in the field can be used to explore the existing compatibility in host-parasite interactions. This paper aimed to describe the infection rate of Galba cubensis populations in fasciolosis transmission areas. Eight sites were sampled in western Cuba and 24 infected snails at six sites were found. The mean prevalence was 2.94% and the maximum value was 11.4%. The intensity of parasite infection was assessed as the number of rediae inside a single snail. High variation within the sites examined was observed, but a maximum of 76 rediae was recovered from one individual. Although the presence of two other trematode families (Schistosomatidae and Paramphistomatidae) was discovered in dissected individuals, no co-infection with F. hepatica was observed. This is the first time a study of natural prevalence of F. hepatica infection is carried out in Cuba, considered a hyper endemic country for bovine fasciolosis. Our results suggest that fasciolosis transmission may occur even when the number of infected snails remains relatively low.

Self‐fertilization, long‐distance flash invasion and biogeography shape the population structure of Pseudosuccinea columella at the worldwide scale

“…; Vázquez et al . ); it is therefore hard to find infected snails in studies such as ours. Moreover Grabner et al .…”

Reviewing Fasciola hepatica transmission in the West Indies and novel perceptions from experimental infections of sympatric vs. allopatric snail/fluke combinations

“…In particular, these results endorse G. cubensis as playing the major role of parasite transmission in the region. This is the case in Cuba where G. cubensis shows high compatibility with F. hepatica both in the laboratory (Vâzquez et al, 2014) and in the field (Vâzquez et al, 2015;Alba et al, 2016) compared to P. columella (Gutiérrez et al 2011). According to Hubendick (1951), G. cubensis has acircum-Caribbean distribution, occurring in most of the West Indies.…”

Assessment of the FasciMol-ELISA in the detection of the trematode Fasciola hepatica in field-collected Galba cubensis: a novel tool for the malacological survey of fasciolosis transmission

“…The distribution of a given parasite in the field is mostly random and linked to that of the intermediate host, which normally has narrower dispersal capacity than definitive host species [ 29 ]. Digenean infection in the intermediate host is a probabilistic event [ 9 ] but chances may increase if high densities of definitive hosts also occur. Therefore, this study was conducted in livestock farms, some of which have been reported as transmission foci of F. hepatica [ 9 ].…”

“…While human fasciolosis is characterised by reduced but repeated outbreaks and few sporadic cases are reported all year round [ 4 , 5 ], it is accepted that the disease is an important veterinary problem [ 4 , 6 , 7 ]. Warm temperatures and frequent rainfall throughout the year favour the existence of two species of lymnaeid snails, Galba cubensis and Pseudosuccinea columella , which act as intermediate hosts of F. hepatica in Cuba [ 8 , 9 ] and other regions of the world [ 10 , 11 ]. The ecological features of G. cubensis (amphibious snail with wide tolerance limits) along with a strong compatibility with Cuban isolates of F. hepatica favour its role as the main intermediate host for this parasite in Cuba [ 12 , 13 ] whereas P. columella plays only a secondary role as intermediate host of F. hepatica in the region [ 13 ].…”