SSU rDNA Characterization of Lymnaeid Snails Transmitting Human Fascioliasis in South and Central America
The small subunit (18S) rRNA gene sequences of the lymnaeid morphs I and II (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Basommatophora: Lymnaeidae) transmitting human fascioliasis in the high endemic zone of the northern Bolivian Altiplano and of Lymnaea cubensis from Mexico and Guadeloupe island (Caribbean) have been obtained by direct polymerase chain reaction PCR cycle sequencing and silver staining methods and compared to that of the 6 most common European Lymnaeidae species. Results allow us to establish definitively the distinction between the lymnaeids from the northern Bolivian Altiplano and L. cubensis. Lymnaea cubensis is a valid species distributed in North and Central America but absent in the north…
Fascioliasis in Llama, Lama glama, in Andean Endemic Areas: Experimental Transmission Capacity by the High Altitude Snail Vector Galba truncatula and Epidemiological Analysis of Its Reservoir Role
Simple Summary The infection by the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica in South American camelids, mainly llamas and alpacas, has been the focus of many studies. However, their capacity to participate in the transmission of the disease and their potential reservoir role in human or animal endemic areas have never been studied. Therefore, all development stages of an isolate from Argentine llama of the high Andean plateau have been experimentally investigated, from egg embryogenesis to metacercarial infectivity, by using the vector snail Galba truncatula from the high altitude Bolivian Altiplano human hyperendemic area. Although eggs shed by llamas may successfully develop until the adult stage i…
Rickettsia conorii Indian Tick Typhus Strain and R. slovaca in Humans, Sicily
Letter to the Editor.-- et al.