Abstract
Paramphistomosis is a neglected ruminant parasitic disease caused by trematodes known as Paramphistomum, which has a diheteroxenic life cycle involving freshwater snail genera, i.e., Planorbis and Lymnaea as the intermediate host and mammals as the definitive host. Snail vector distribution, infection with Paramphistomum spp. cercariae, preferred habitat, and their relationship with certain meteorological factors were not investigated in the province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan. Therefore, this study is designed to evaluate the effects of meteorological factors on the occurrence and severity of Paramphistomum spp. cercariae in Indoplanorbis and Lymnaea intermediate snail hosts. For this purpose, a cross-sectional survey was conducted from October 2018 to September 2019, and snails were collected and then identified using snail shell morphology; their infection with Paramphistomum spp. cercariae was determined through microscopy; and descriptive statistics were used to estimate the prevalence of infection and evaluate their occurrence relationship with a certain meteorological factors including temperature, humidity, rainfall, and pan evaporation in different districts of the above-mentioned province of Pakistan, i.e., adjacent areas of Bara and Kabul rivers in district Nowshehra, Kabul River (Sardaryab) of district Charsadda, Kalpani River of district Mardan, and Indus River (Hund) of district Swabi. A total of 2,706 Indoplanorbis (1539) and Lymnaea (1167) snails were collected, in which overall 10.30% shed Paramphistomum spp. cercariae. The highest infection rate was found in the river of district Swabi (13.20%), while the lowest in adjacent rivers of district Nowshehra (8.19%). Meteorological factors play an essential role in the causation of Paramphistomum spp. infection, parasitic reproduction, vector growth, and survival. Due to these factors, high significant prevalence was found in the summer season (11.83), followed by autumn (11.25), which might be due to optimum temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall (p < 0.05). It was concluded from the study that meteorological factors contribute to the prevalence of Paramphistomum species in the Indoplanorbis and Lymnaea, which act as vectors for the disease paramphistomosis, which may lead to the increased intensity of infection outbreaks of the parasite population in humans and domestic animals.
Highlights
Paramphistomosis is a neglected ruminant parasitic disease with a broad geographic distribution caused by Trematoda that belongs to the Paramphistomatidae family. e genus name Paramphistomum is a derivative of a Greek word amphistomes, meaning paired mouth [1]. e life cycle of Paramphistomum involves a diheteroxenic cycle including snails as the intermediate host and mammals as the definitive host. e snail species may be Lymnaea bulimoides, Journal of Tropical Medicine
Duration of the present study was from October 2018 to September 2019, and freshwater Indoplanorbis and Lymnaea intermediate snail hosts infected with Paramphistomum spp. cercariae were collected from different districts including adjacent areas of Bara and Kabul rivers in district Nowshehra, Kabul River (Sardaryab) of district Charsadda, Kalpani River of district Mardan, and Indus River (Hund) of district Swabi of province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Cercariae Infection in Indoplanorbis and Lymnaea Intermediate Snail Hosts. e peak Paramphistomum cercariae infection was recorded during July (12.7%), followed by August (12.0%), while no infection was recorded in December (0.00%) and January (0.00%) in the total 839 snails (371 of genus Indoplanorbis and 468 of genus Lymnaea) collected from the Kalpani River of district Mardan
Summary
Paramphistomosis is a neglected ruminant parasitic disease with a broad geographic distribution caused by Trematoda that belongs to the Paramphistomatidae family. e genus name Paramphistomum is a derivative of a Greek word amphistomes, meaning paired mouth [1]. e life cycle of Paramphistomum involves a diheteroxenic cycle including snails as the intermediate host and mammals as the definitive host. e snail species may be Lymnaea bulimoides, Journal of Tropical MedicineBulinus spp., and Planorbis planorbis [2]. e shape of a live, mature worm is conical, and the color is pink. E life cycle of Paramphistomum involves a diheteroxenic cycle including snails as the intermediate host and mammals as the definitive host. E snail species may be Lymnaea bulimoides, Journal of Tropical Medicine. Paramphistomosis prevalence is high in all subtropical and tropical regions, in Russia, Australia, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa [5, 7,8,9]. E prevalence is 30–60% in some regions of Asia including Pakistan [5, 10, 11]. Gastrointestinal helminths, including Paramphistomum species, were recorded to be 25.1 to 92 percent in various areas during different times in Pakistan [10, 12,13,14,15]
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