Trematode infections in freshwater snails and cattle from the Kafue wetlands of Zambia during a period of highest cattle–water contact

• Published in: Journal of helminthology 2007-03, Vol.81 (1), p.85-92
• Main Authors: Phiri, A.M., Phiri, I. K., Chota, A., Monrad, J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal helminthic diseases; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cattle; Cattle - parasitology; Cattle Diseases - epidemiology; Cattle Diseases - parasitology; Cattle production; Cercaria; Creeks & streams; Disease transmission; Disease Vectors; Freshwater; Freshwater molluscs; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gastropoda; Helminthic diseases; Host parasite relation; pathogenicity; Host-Parasite Interactions; Infections; Infectious diseases; Inland water environment; Invertebrates; Laboratories; Medical sciences; Mollusks; Morphology; Nemathelminthia. Plathelmintha; Parasites; Parasitic diseases; Rivers; Snails; Snails - parasitology; Temperature; Trematoda - isolation & purification; Trematode Infections - epidemiology; Trematode Infections - parasitology; Trematode Infections - veterinary; Vegetation; Wetlands; Worms; Zambia - epidemiology
• ISSN: 0022-149X; 1475-2697
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022149X07387786

A total of 984 snails, comprising nine species, were collected from six areas in the Kafue wetlands between August and October 2003 to assess larval trematode infections. Of these, 135 (13.7%) were positive. Most trematode infections were recorded from Lymnaea natalensis (42.8%), which harboured four of the five morphologically different cercariae found. No trematodes were recovered from Bellamya capillata, Biomphalaria pfeifferi, Melanoides tuberculata, Physa acuta and Cleopatra nswendweensis. One snail (0.2%) of 416 Bulinus snails shed brevifurcate-apharyngeate distome cercariae while three (0.7%) shed amphistomes. Gymnocephalous and longifurcate-pharyngeate distome were the commonest types of cercariae recorded while xiphidiocercaria was the least common. The highest prevalence rates of F. gigantica (68.8%) and amphistomes (50.0%) in cattle (n = 101) were in Chiyasa while those in Kaleya had the lowest (9.1 and 18.2%, respectively). In most habitats, infections were recorded in both cattle and snails. Critical determinants of infection may have been the distance of settlements and/or cattle kraals, the number of animals in nearby homesteads and the presence of susceptible host snails. This study suggests that fascioliasis and amphistomiasis could be major constraints of cattle production in the Kafue wetlands because favourable factors were available to introduce and maintain the infections. It further provides a starting point for some comprehensive studies on snail-related aspects of transmission and snail host ecology in Zambia.