title: Prevalence of fishborne zoonotic parasites in important cultured fish species in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
abstract: A seasonal investigation on the occurrence of fishborne zoonotic trematodes (FZT) in economically important mono-cultured hybrid catfish and giant gouramy was conducted in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Fish from carp poly-culture and intensive small-scale integrated vegetable-aquaculture-animal husbandry farming (VAC) systems were also examined. No FZT metacercariae were found in any mono-cultured hybrid catfish. FZT metacercariae were common, however, in fish from the other three systems: All metacercariae belonged to the Heterophyidae family of trematodes, Haplorchis pumilio, H. taichui, Centrocestus formosanus and Stellantchasmus falcatus. The FZT prevalence was 1.7% in mono-cultured giant gouramy, 6.6% in carp from the poly-culture and 3.0% in fish raised in the VAC system. H. pumilio was the most common FZT species constituting more than 58.0% of all metacercariae recovered. The prevalence of infection was significantly higher in the flooding season compared to the non-flooding season for both giant gouramy and fish reared in the VAC system. FZT intensity was greatest in fish from carp poly-culture, particularly in the flooding season. The results indicate that certain fish production systems are at risk for FZT, and control approaches will benefit from understanding these risk factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 1870, Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Pham Cu
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Thien
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dalsgaard
authors.forename: Bui Ngoc
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Thanh
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: K Darwin
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Murrell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000469:parasitology; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D005398:Fisheries; D005399:Fishes / Q000469:parasitology*; D006578:Heterophyidae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010273:Parasitic Diseases, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D015995:Prevalence; D012621:Seasons; D014744:Vietnam / Q000453:epidemiology; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology