Comparison of adult liver flukes from highland and lowland populations of Bolivian and Spanish sheep.
A morphological study of adult liver flukes and eggs from sheep in a human fascioliasis endemic zone in the Northern Bolivian Altiplano showed that they belong to the species Fasciola hepatica. An exhaustive morphometric comparison with a F. hepatica population from Spanish sheep was made using image analysis and an allometric model: (y2m-y2)/y2 = c(y1m-y1)/y1[b, where y1 = body surface or body length, y2 = one of the measurements analyzed, y1m, y2m = maximum values towards which y1 and y2 respectively tend, and c, b = constants. Only slight allometric differences in worms were observed despite the geographic distance between both Spanish and Bolivian sheep populations and the very high altitude of the Bolivian Altiplano.
Valero
M A
MA
Departamento de Parasitología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Valencia, Spain. madela.valero@uv.es
Marcos
M D
MD
Comes
A M
AM
Sendra
M
M
Mas-Coma
S
S
D000531:Altitude; D000818:Animals; D001699:Biometry; D001838:Bolivia; D005210:Fasciola hepatica / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005211:Fascioliasis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D013030:Spain