What is Dicroceliasis?
Dicroceliosis is a helminthic disease of domestic and wild animals, as well as humans, characterized by damage to the liver and gallbladder.
Causes of Dicroceliasis
The causative agent of dicroceliasis – helminth-trematode lanceolate Dicrocoelium lanceatum – lanceolate fluke. The length of the parasite is 5-15 mm, width 1-2, 5 mm. The eggs are dark brown, have a thick shell; The size of the eggs is 0, 038-0, 045 x 0, 022-0, 030 mm. It parasitizes sheep, goats, cattle, buffaloes, camels, horses, donkeys, mules, marals, hares, rabbits, gophers and humans. The pathogen lays eggs with an already developed miracidia, which hatch after the egg is swallowed by terrestrial mollusks. In the body of the mollusk, sporocysts develop, after which the formed cercariae are released into the environment. They then enter the body of ants, where metacercaria develop. In the epizootology of dicroceliosis, the conditions of activity of mollusks are of great importance. The activity is most pronounced at 67 – 100% humidity and air temperature 3.5 18 ‘C. Therefore, cercariae emerge from mollusks more often after rains. Dicrocelium eggs are stable in the environment. Drying at a temperature of 18 – 20 ‘C does not kill them within a week. They also suffer severe cold (up to – 23, and sometimes up to -50 ‘C). Thus, the first intermediate host of the parasite is terrestrial mollusks, the second is ants, the final owners are agricultural and wild animals, as well as humans.
Pathogenesis during Dicroceliosis
In puberty, helminths are parasitic in the bile ducts and in the gallbladder of cattle and small ruminants and other mammals, occasionally in humans (definitive, or definitive, hosts). A person becomes infected by the accidental ingestion of anxious ants, for example, with garden vegetables, berries, and meadow herbs. The natural susceptibility of people is not defined. In humans, only isolated cases of dicroceliosis in different countries are described.
Symptoms of Dicroceliosis
The incubation period is not defined. The acute stage can manifest as fever, a common allergic syndrome (skin rash, hyporeosinophilia), abdominal pains, and liquid stool. If liver damage occurs, hyperbilirubinemia, moderate hyperfermentemia (mainly due to alkaline phosphatase), and hypoalbuminemia are detected. Chronic dicroceliasis is characterized by paroxysmal pain in the right hypochondrium, loss of appetite, unstable stool, fever, enlarged liver, leukocytosis, and increased ESR when the bacterial infection joins.
Diagnosis of Dicroceliosis
The diagnosis of dicroceliosis is established on the basis of the clinical picture of the disease, data of epidemiological history (contact with vegetation in cattle-breeding areas) and the results of laboratory studies. The diagnosis confirms the detection in the duodenal contents and feces of the helminth eggs.
Dicroceliasis Treatment
Dicroceliosis treatment is carried out in the hospital with hloksilom according to the scheme: the drug is taken after a meal for 2 days, drinking milk. The prognosis is favorable.
Prevention of Dicroceliosis
Immunoprophylaxis measures are not developed. Prevention is to prevent ants from crawling on food, especially on expeditions, camping trips; in the identification and treatment of domestic animals with dicroceliosis.