title: Fasciola hepatica: Infection Status of Freshwater Snails Collected from Gangwon-do (Province), Korea.
abstract: Fasciola hepaticais a trematode that causes zoonosis, mainly in cattle and sheep, and occasionally in humans. Few recent studies have determined the infection status of this fluke in Korea. In August 2015, we collected 402 samples of freshwater snails at Hoenggye-ri (upper stream) and Suha-ri (lower stream) of Song-cheon (stream) in Daegwalnyeong-myeon, Pyeongchang-gun in Gangwon-do (Province) near many large cattle or sheep farms.F. hepaticainfection was determined using PCR on the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2). Among the 402 samples,F. hepatica1TS-2 marker was detected in 6 freshwater snails; thus, the overall prevalence in freshwater snails was 1.5%. The prevalence varied between collection areas, ranging from 0.0% at Hoenggye-ri to 2.9% at Suha-ri. However,F. giganticaITS-2 was not detected in the 6F. hepatica-positive samples by PCR. The nucleotide sequences of the 6F. hepaticaITS-2 PCR-positive samples were 99.4% identical to theF. hepaticaITS-2 sequences in GenBank, whereas they were 98.4% similar toF. giganticaITS-2 sequences. These results indicated that the prevalence ofF. hepaticain snail intermediate hosts was 1.5% in Gangwon-do, Korea; however the prevalence varied between collection areas. These results may help us to understandF. hepaticainfection status in natural environments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Science, Chungnam National University Graduate School, Daejeon 35015, Korea.|Department of Infection Biology, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon 35015, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Hyung
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical College, Zhanjiang 524-001, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Juan-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Quan
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection Biology, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon 35015, Korea.
authors.forename: In-Wook
authors.initials: IW
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Catholic Kwandong University College of Medicine, Gangneung 25601, Korea.
authors.forename: Gab-Man
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection Biology, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon 35015, Korea.
authors.forename: Guang-Ho
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.affiliation: Rural Development Administration, Wanju-gun 55365, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun-Ju
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection Biology, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon 35015, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Yuk
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection Biology, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon 35015, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Ha
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002417:Cattle; D018509:DNA, Helminth / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005210:Fasciola hepatica / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005618:Fresh Water; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012908:Snails / Q000469:parasitology*
chemical_list: D018509:DNA, Helminth; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer
keywords: DNA sequencing analysis; Fasciola hepatica; ITS-2; Korea; PCR; freshwater snail