Liver fluke. Fasciola hepatica

- In these area every cattle liver are damaged. Butcher says in a Venezuelan town in the Andean highlands.
- Against liver fluke can not do anything. You have to live with it. Say many cattle producers in these endemic areas.



Fasciola egg in faeces



We know that the liver fluke mainly affects ruminants, but also other herbivorous and even humans.
Its life cycle involve a snail like intermediate host, usually of the genus Lymnaea, need to obtain infective forms (metacercariae), these are attached to the leaves of the vegetation in areas partly flooded. Often get metacercariae on vegetation surrounding streams and lakes. The drinking water of animals also could have it but these cases of contamination, only represent 5% of cases, the other 95% represents the intake of contaminated grass.



Snail



It is unfortunately a common sight in these areas the herd grazing on the banks of streams, lakes or in the best cases drinking water in casks or a tire chopped in half with a hose throwing water all day and night long on the pasture.



water spill



It is also noted how the people irrigate pasture indiscriminately (already so humid). And those are the same producers who say "can not do anything" to improve the situation of parasitic diseases.

It is well known that flooded grazing pastures on the edge of streams and lakes, are conditions that promote many parasitic diseases, not only fasciolosis, in addition to numerous infections and hoof problems for our animals.

There are medicines based on albendazole, triclabendazole, clorsulon, etc, which can be administered to the animal to remove these parasites from the liver and its effectiveness is variable. However, soon reinfest if exposed to the polluted environment. It is true that it is difficult but we can not give up. I have heard of producers who have decided to move to agriculture, eliminating dairy farms.

In recently there have been livestock imports from other countries like Uruguay and Argentina. Credit programst included money for small farmers to improve their farm conditions. The projects included from stall and stables, to mechanical milking equipment, but nowhere is it noted the appropriateness of the water sources. How costly can be placed floating valve to shut off water once filled the trough? To make fences arround streams and lakes to prevent grazing of the banks? How bad is that dairy cows are kicking and feeding in a swamp? It's amazing! I repeat I do not mean just to prevent fascioliasis, but this does not give importance to the planning of improvements to the farms.

Ah! and maybe you'll hear the people say - can not install floating because the water pressure is such that the hose burst, as this comes from high in the mountains.
Well, in this respect I confess that I suffered a mild disappointment to reach the twenty-first century and not see everyone flying through the air in amazing vehicles. But more disappointing to see how many people that work with water driving, dont use pressure regulators and even they unknown it. I think it's a very old invention.
Mind you, not to be confused with a normal valves, these only regulate flow. I mean a "pressure regulator" that sold spetial for water. It can be installed easily in a level of altitude such that the end of the hose pressure is moderate. The specialized hardware sold and they are not very expensive. How much water and repairs would be saved if we used these control valves most often?. Entire communities of homes and farms suffer from many blowouts due to excessive pressure in their pipelines.

Maybe we can not eradicate this disease, but with proper medications and especially the adequacy of water sources is much we can accomplish.

I tell you in a farm of a highly endemic area of fluke, where in the drinking suplies were installed floating valves, handmade with plastic casks, I could find no fluke eggs in fecal samples.

Is for thinking it ...