title: Experimental fascioliasis in the rat-like hamster, Tscherskia triton, and other rodent hosts.
abstract: Experimental infection with Fasciola hepatica and parthenogenetic Fasciola sp. in laboratory animals have been conducted in rats and rabbits. Inoculation of less than 5 metacercariae into rat-like hamsters, Tscherskia triton, is sufficient to establish Fasciola infections. The prepatent period of F. hepatica and the parthenogenetic Fasciola sp. in T. triton was shorter than that in rats and rabbits, suggesting that T. triton is a suitable experimental model for these flukes. In contrast, F. gigantica infection in T. triton did not yield adult flukes; T. triton, is therefore, considered to be an unsuitable host for F. gigantica. The cotton rat, Sigmodon hispidus, was an unsuitable host for the parthenogenetic Fasciola sp.
authors.affiliation: St. Mary's Junior College, Kurume, Fukuoka 830-8558, Japan. terasaki@st-mary.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kunio
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Terasaki
authors.forename: Yasutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shibahara
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Itagaki
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Kimiyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D006224:Cricetinae; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005209:Fasciola; D005210:Fasciola hepatica / Q000254:growth & development; D005211:Fascioliasis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D010312:Parthenogenesis; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012377:Rodentia / Q000469:parasitology*; D016205:Sigmodontinae