Effects of climatic factors on prevalence of developmental stages of Fasciola gigantica infection in Lymnaea snails (Lymnaea auricularia var rufescens) in Bangladesh

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Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of developmental stages of Fasciola gigantica infection in Lymnaea snails and their populations in Sylhet region of Bangladesh. A total of 1865 Lymnaea snails were collected and examined, of which 56 (3%) were found to having infected with developmental stages of Fasciola gigantica. Only 4.08% infected of 515 snails were collected from Biswanath Upazilla followed by 3.16% of 443 from Beanibazar, 2.53% of 396 from Balaganj then 2.40% of 292 Jaintapur Upazilla and the lowest 1.83% of 219 from Sylhet Sadar. Month-wise data, the prevalence of snail infections was observed to be the highest in May (5.06%) and August (5.61%) and the lowest in March (0.74%) and February (0.68%). However there was no infection observed through November to January. Seasonal prevalence of the developmental stages of F. gigantica infection in Lymnaea snails was also studied. Highest prevalence (4.63%) was recorded during rainy season and lowest prevalence (0.76%) was recorded during winter season. The study revealed that the developmental stages of F. gigantica infection in snail populations decreases from November to January and increases from February to October and highest in August and September in Sylhet region of Bangladesh.

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