Source of Infection For Humans and Transmission
Human F. hepatica infection is determined by the presence of the intermediate snail hosts, domestic herbivorous animals, climatic conditions and the dietary habits of man. Sheep, goats and cattle are considered the predominant animal reservoirs. While other animals can be infected, they are usually not very important for human disease transmission. On the other hand, some authors have observed that donkeys and pigs contribute to disease transmission in Bolivia. Among wild animals, it has been demonstrated that the peridomestic rat (Rattus rattus) may play an important role in the spread as well as in the transmission of the parasite in Corsica. In France, nutria (Myocastor coypus) was confirmed as a wild reservoir host of F. hepatica. Humans are infected by ingestion of aquatic plants that contain the infectious cercariae. Several species of aquatic vegetables are known as a vehicle of human infection. In Europe, Nasturtium officinale (common watercress), Nasturtium silvestris, Rorippa amphibia (wild watercress), Taraxacum dens leonis (dandelion leaves), Valerianella olitoria (lamb's lettuce), and Mentha viridis (spearmint) were reported as a source of human infections. In the Northern Bolivian Altiplano, some authors suggested that several aquatic plants such as bero-bero (watercress), algas (algae), kjosco and tortora could act as a source of infection for humans. Because F. hepatica cercariae also encyst on water surface, humans can be infected by drinking of fresh untreated water containing cercariae. In addition, an experimental study suggested that humans consuming raw liver dishes from fresh livers infected with juvenile flukes could become infected.
Read more about this topic: Fasciolosis
Famous quotes containing the words source of, source, infection and/or humans:
“As soon as man began considering himself the source of the highest meaning in the world and the measure of everything, the world began to lose its human dimension, and man began to lose control of it.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
“As a means of contrast with the sublime, the grotesque is, in our view, the richest source that nature can offer.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“What, then, was war? No mere discord of flags
But an infection of the common sky
That sagged ominously upon the earth”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)
“Because humans are not alone in exhibiting such behavior—bees stockpile royal jelly, birds feather their nests, mice shred paper—it’s possible that a pregnant woman who scrubs her house from floor to ceiling [just before her baby is born] is responding to a biological imperative . . . . Of course there are those who believe that . . . the burst of energy that propels a pregnant woman to clean her house is a perfectly natural response to their mother’s impending visit.”
—Mary Arrigo (20th century)