Question

  How do people become infected with Fasciola hepatica and what type of patient sample would be needed to diagnose this infection?

Answer 1

Fasciola hepatica is a parasite that is commonly called liver fluke or sheep liver fluke which infects the liver of various mammals especially sheep. It is parasite of class trematoda of phylum platyhelminthes.

The larval forms of this parasite are called Cercariae and are free swimming settled on water plants. Thus by drinking contaminated water and by eating water plants results in the infection of this parasite. This parasite transmits through intermediate animal mainly snails.

After infecting human liver the eggs of this parasite were released out through faeces. So by examining the faecal sample under light microscope reveals the infection. Hence the faecal matter is the sample collected for diagnosing the parasite.

For detailed understanding the life cycle of Fasciola hepatica is shown in the below picture.