title: First report of Lymnaea columella Say, 1817 (Pulmonata: Lymnaeidae) naturally infected with Fasciola hepatica (Linnaeus,1758) (Trematoda: Digenea) in Argentina.
abstract: We report the first evidence of natural infection of Lymnaea columella with Fasciola hepatica in Argentina. A sample of 601 snails was collected in May 2003 in northeastern Corrientes, a province bounded on the north by Paraguay, on the east by Brazil and on the southeast by Uruguay. Among 500 examined snails, 44 (8.8%) were exclusively infected with F. hepatica. Parasite identification was based on morphological features of cercariae from snails, and of eggs and adult flukes from Wistar rats. We discuss the events suggesting that an enzootic transmission cycle of F. hepatica has been recently established in northeastern Corrientes.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Ecología de Reservorios y Vectores de Parásitos, Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. lucilap@bg.fcen.uba.ar
authors.forename: Lucila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Prepelitchi
authors.forename: Florencia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kleiman
authors.forename: Silvia M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Pietrokovsky
authors.forename: Ricardo A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Moriena
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Racioppi
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wisnivesky-Colli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001118:Argentina; D005210:Fasciola hepatica / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008195:Lymnaea / Q000469:parasitology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar