CIAS detection of Fasciola hepatica/F. gigantica intermediate forms in bovines from Bangladesh

Fascioliasis is an important food-borne parasitic zoonosis caused by two trematode species, Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica. The characterisation and differentiation of Fasciola populations is crucial to control the disease, given the different transmission, epidemiology and pathology characteristics of the two species. Lineal biometric features of adult liver flukes infecting livestock have been studied to characterise and discriminate fasciolids from Bangladesh. An accurate analysis was conducted to phenotypically discriminate between fasciolids from naturally infected bovines (cattle, buffaloes) throughout the country. Morphometric analyses were made with a computer image analysis system (CIAS) applied on the basis of standardised measurements and the logistic model of the body growth and development of fasciolids in the different host groups. Since it is the first ever comprehensive study of this kind undertaken in Bangladesh, the results are compared to pure fasciolid populations of F. hepatica from the European Mediterranean area and F. gigantica from Burkina Faso, geographical areas where both species do not co-exist. Principal component analysis showed that the biometric characteristics of fasciolids from Bangladesh are situated between F. hepatica and F. gigantica standard populations, indicating the presence of phenotypes of intermediate forms in Bangladesh. These results are analysed by considering the present emergence of animal fascioliasis, the local lymnaeid fauna, the impact of climate change, and the risk of human infection in the country

Hearing Loss in Patients with Shunt-Treated Hydrocephalus

Hearing loss is a common manifestation of the long-term complications in patients with shunt treated hydrocephalus along with motor development disturbance, cognitive and visual impairment, epilepsy and endocrine disorders

Il Settecento e il Pre-Romanticismo

Using samples collected on the island of Corsica, a comparative study was done of the morphometry of Fasciola hepatica eggs shed by cattle and by naturally and experimentally infected murid rodents (wild Mus musculus and Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus Wistar laboratory strain). Eggs shed by murids are smaller in size than those shed by naturally infected cattle. A second study analyzed the number of F. hepatica eggs shed in murid feces at different time intervals, i.e., months, days, and 6-hr periods, by the Kato-Katz technique. Both experimentally and naturally infected black rats (R. rattus) were used, and Wistar rats were experimentally infected and included for comparison. The present studies prove that black rats R. rattus are able to shed eggs independently from the liver fluke isolate and that egg shedding occurs throughout the life of this host species, uninterrupted during all the months analyzed in a 2-yr period. Moreover, the results suggest that this shedding is continuous, with eggs appearing in the feces daily. The results on egg shedding by wild black rats R. rattus reach their maximum shedding in spring and autumn and a maximum during twilight hr. These chronobiological patterns appear to favor parasite transmission, both seasonally and daily.Valero Aleixandre, M Adela, [email protected]