![]() ![]() You might be thinking how safe is the Watercress that I get from the shop? The chronic phase occurs when the worms mature in the bile duct, and can cause symptoms of intermittent pain, jaundice, and anemia. ![]() Human symptoms vary depending on whether the disease is chronic or acute.ĭuring the acute phase, the immature worms begin penetrating the gut, causing symptoms of fever, nausea, swollen liver, skin rashes, and extreme abdominal pain. There are many reasons for this but recent wetter summers probably play a role, providing ideal conditions for the snails and the parasite to reproduce. Liver fluke, lifecycle-SuSanA Secretariat, CC BY 2.0Ī disease due to liver fluke is known as fasciolosis. The incidence of fluke disease has been increasing over the past ten years. The life cycle of both parasite and snail is dependent on temperatures above 10 degrees centigrade and rainfall. The fluke develops in the snail, taking 6-8 weeks before the infective stages are shed and encyst on the pasture. In the UK this is the mud snail (Galba truncatula), which is found in wet muddy conditions and areas with poor drainage. Infective cysts are ingested during grazing and develop into juvenile fluke which then migrate from the gut through the liver to the bile ducts where they mature.Īdult fluke lay eggs (up to 25,00 per day) which are passed in dung where they develop and hatch before infecting an intermediate host. Liver fluke has a complex two-stage life cycle. Liver fluke, slide under microscope-Adam Cuerden, Public domain They have an oral sucker and a ventral sucker, as well as spines on their surface, to help them lodge themselves in and attach to the tissue of their host. The adult flukes have a flat leaf-like body that measures 2-3 cm in length and are found in the bile ducts of the liver. Liver fluke is also a zoonotic disease which means it can infect people, although this is more of a problem in developing countries. It causes severe liver damage, especially in sheep, and can result in the sudden death of previously healthy animals. Liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica), sometimes called Common fluke or Sheep liver fluke is a pathogenic flatworm parasite of ruminants, mainly sheep and cattle. It’s mentioned in a few of our ID guides so I thought that it would be worth discussing it in a little more detail. We often wonder what is liver fluke? One of the hazards when foraging for any aquatic or semi aquatic plant for example Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) and Brooklime (Veronica beccabunga) is something called Liver Fluke. ![]() Brooklime, nice of leaf and stem-Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova, CC BY-SA 4.0 ![]()
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