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Diseases of the Hepatobiliary Tree and Pancreas Associated with Fever
Published in Benedict Isaac, Serge Kernbaum, Michael Burke, Unexplained Fever, 2019
Fascioliasis — Infection by the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatic, may occur in sheep- or cattle-raising areas. Humans acquire the infection by ingesting contaminated wild watercress.214,215 The clinical picture comprises upper abdominal pain, fever, diarrhea, pruritus, jaundice, and eosinophilia. The condition may mimic choledocholithiasis. The diagnosis can be established by a complement fixation test and the detection of ova in the feces. Liver biopsy may reveal granulomas,214 which occasionally contain an ovum of F. hepatica.216
Fasciola
Published in Dongyou Liu, Handbook of Foodborne Diseases, 2018
Fascioliasis caused by liver flukes F. hepatica and F. gigantica is a significant issue for the livestock industry as well as an emerging public health concern. Due to their complex life cycle and the chronic, often nonspecific nature of the diseases they induce, Fasciola spp. have not attracted adequate attention that their extreme infectivity, high prevalence, and broad economic impact are calling for. Given the close morphological and biological similarities between F. hepatica and F. gigantica as well as among various foodborne trematodes, use of laboratory techniques (e.g., microscopic examination, serological and molecular tests) is crucial to their correct and timely identification. Although human fascioliasis is currently treatable with triclabendazole, bithionol, and/or nitazoxanide, there is evidence that drug-resistant Fasciola isolates are emerging. Therefore, further research on finding novel anthelmintics and developing effective vaccines against these parasites should be a top priority [52].
Triclabendazole
Published in M. Lindsay Grayson, Sara E. Cosgrove, Suzanne M. Crowe, M. Lindsay Grayson, William Hope, James S. McCarthy, John Mills, Johan W. Mouton, David L. Paterson, Kucers’ The Use of Antibiotics, 2017
Fascioliasis, an infection due to the liver flukes F. hepatica and F. gigantica, is normally a disease of domestic herbivorous animals, such as sheep, cattle, and goats, which are the normal hosts. Man is an accidental host, infection resulting from eating uncooked, and usually unwashed, aquatic vegetables (such as watercress) on which the infective stage of the parasite has encysted.
Construction of a multiepitope vaccine candidate against Fasciola hepatica: an in silico design using various immunogenic excretory/secretory antigens
Published in Expert Review of Vaccines, 2022
Mesut Akıl, Mehmet Aykur, Muhammet Karakavuk, Hüseyin Can, Mert Döşkaya
Fasciola hepatica is a liver trematode that causes severe morbidity and mortality in livestock animals like cattle, sheep, and goats. Humans also play the role of accidental hosts in the parasite’s life cycle. Adult parasite is found in the liver and biliary tract of hosts. In animals, large financial losses such as reducing weight gain, milk yield, and fertility occur as a result of extensive damage to hepatic parenchyma by migrating flukes. Fasciolosis in humans progresses with clinical signs ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe liver cirrhosis, even death. Clinically, it is commonly characterized as fever, eosinophilia, and abdominal pain [1,2].
Highlights of human ectopic fascioliasis: a systematic review
Published in Infectious Diseases, 2019
Ali Taghipour, Leila Zaki, Ali Rostami, Masoud Foroutan, Fatemeh Ghaffarifar, Atefeh Fathi, Amir Abdoli
Fascioliasis is an important food-borne zoonotic disease caused by the genus Fasciola (Platyhelminthes: Trematoda: Digenea). Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantic are two main species of the parasite [1]. The adult parasites mainly reside in the liver and biliary ducts of herbivorous animals and humans [2,3]. Interestingly, immature (juvenile stage) flukes can also migrate to ectopic sites, such as the skin and sub-cutaneous tissues, eye, brain, neck, lung, dorsal Spine, cecum and colon [4–10]. Human fascioliasis emerges in some parts of the world, especially in areas where people often consume freshwater plants and drink water contaminated with metacercariae [11,12]. During the last three decades, reports of clinical cases and outbreaks of human fascioliasis have increased remarkably since 1980 and different geographical areas have been identified as endemic for the disease [13–15]. According to World Health Organization (WHO) reports, the number of people infected and at risk of fascioliasis in the world are 2.4 million and 180 million, respectively [16–18]. Human infection is mainly most common in Bolivia, Ecuador, Egypt, Peru and Yemen [19–23], while several outbreaks of this disease occurred in the Guilan province of the Northern Iran and in 1999 alone over 10,000 individuals were infected [24–26]. Moreover, human infections with Fasciola spp. are found in animal, endemic areas of rural zones where sheep and cattle are raised and where humans consume raw watercress, including Europe, the Middle East and Asia [1,27,28]. According to the WHO reports, Fascioliasis is on the list of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) among the group of food-borne trematodiases [17,29]. According to a systematic review and meta-analysis regarding the global burden of human food-borne trematodiasis, the disability adjusted life years (DALYs) due to fascioliasis was 35,206 with the total number of 2,646,515 infections [30].
Triclabendazole for the treatment of human fascioliasis and the threat of treatment failures
Published in Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy, 2021
Luis Marcos, Vicente Maco, Angelica Terashima
Fascioliasis is a foodborne (waterborne – plantborne) infection caused by the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica (temperate areas) or F. gigantica (tropical areas) (Trematoda; Fasciolidae; large flukes, 20–40 mm in length) affecting both herbivorous mammals and humans in cattle-raising areas [1–4]. This neglected tropical parasitic disease (NTD) is considered at present as the vector-borne parasitic disease with the widest latitudinal, longitudinal, and altitudinal distribution worldwide [5]. The number of people at risk around the world has been estimated to be 91 million, with up to 17 million infected in all inhabited continents [6]. It is endemic in The Americas [7–9], from a few cases reported in North America [10,11] to thousands in the Andean Region of South America [7–9]. Prevalence rates in humans may reach as high as 67% as demonstrated in a meta-analysis of epidemiological surveys from 38 communities in the Bolivian Altiplano with the highest infection rate in children aged 8–11 years [7]. In Europe, several countries have reported human cases of fascioliasis including Portugal [12], France [13], Spain [14], Belgium [15], among others. In addition, cases from other continents have been reported in Asia [16], Africa [17], and Australia [18]. Not only native people from endemic countries are at risk for fascioliasis but also travelers to endemic countries may acquire this fluke infection [19,20]. Immigration can bring fascioliasis to large cities (non-endemic regions) where it can be under recognized due to lack of awareness of this infection by local physicians [21]. Fascioliasis has also emerged in the immunocompromised host such as the transplant population. A case of a liver transplant recipient has been reported with fascioliasis causing graft loss and mortality [22]. Furthermore, human cases of fascioliasis are being diagnosed in areas where this parasitic infection was not previously reported, suggesting the spread of this zoonosis to new regions [23]. A plausible explanation is the uncontrolled transportation of livestock with Fasciola among countries [24]. Fascioliasis seems to be emerging and reemerging in several parts of the world [4].