Korean J Parasitol.  2017 Feb;55(1):95-98. 10.3347/kjp.2017.55.1.95.

Fasciola hepatica: Infection Status of Freshwater Snails Collected from Gangwon-do (Province), Korea

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Medical Science, Chungnam National University Graduate School, Daejeon 35015, Korea.
  • 2Department of Infection Biology, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon 35015, Korea. yhalee@cnu.ac.kr
  • 3Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical College, Zhanjiang 524-001, Guangdong, China.
  • 4Department of Parasitology, Catholic Kwandong University College of Medicine, Gangneung 25601, Korea.
  • 5Rural Development Administration, Wanju-gun 55365, Korea.

Abstract

Fasciola hepatica is a trematode that causes zoonosis, mainly in cattle and sheep, and occasionally in humans. Few recent studies have determined the infection status of this fluke in Korea. In August 2015, we collected 402 samples of freshwater snails at Hoenggye-ri (upper stream) and Suha-ri (lower stream) of Song-cheon (stream) in Daegwalnyeong-myeon, Pyeongchang-gun in Gangwon-do (Province) near many large cattle or sheep farms. F. hepatica infection was determined using PCR on the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2). Among the 402 samples, F. hepatica 1TS-2 marker was detected in 6 freshwater snails; thus, the overall prevalence in freshwater snails was 1.5%. The prevalence varied between collection areas, ranging from 0.0% at Hoenggye-ri to 2.9% at Suha-ri. However, F. gigantica ITS-2 was not detected in the 6 F. hepatica-positive samples by PCR. The nucleotide sequences of the 6 F. hepatica ITS-2 PCR-positive samples were 99.4% identical to the F. hepatica ITS-2 sequences in GenBank, whereas they were 98.4% similar to F. gigantica ITS-2 sequences. These results indicated that the prevalence of F. hepatica in snail intermediate hosts was 1.5% in Gangwon-do, Korea; however the prevalence varied between collection areas. These results may help us to understand F. hepatica infection status in natural environments.

Keyword

Fasciola hepatica; freshwater snail; Korea; PCR; ITS-2; DNA sequencing analysis

MeSH Terms

Agriculture
Animals
Base Sequence
Cattle
Databases, Nucleic Acid
Fasciola hepatica*
Fasciola*
Fresh Water*
Gangwon-do*
Humans
Korea*
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Prevalence
Ranunculaceae
Sheep
Snails*
Trematoda
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