Natural Infection with <em>Fasciola hepatica</em> in Host-Snails and Cattle in Ten Dairy Farms from a Western Municipality in Cuba

Abstract

Fasciolosis is a foodborne trematodosis affecting many cattle farms in Cuba. Ten dairy farms in western Cuba were studied to assess the prevalence in both intermediate and definitive hosts. A single stool sample from 455 dairy cows was taken and studied. The animals were randomly selected and the samples were kept at -20oC until infection was determined. Detection of the <em>Fasciola hepatica</em> infection was carried out using a non-commercial sandwich-ELISA called FasciDIG®. Results showed that 146 samples were positive for F. <em>hepatica</em> (32.09%) with every farm testing positive for F. <em>hepatica</em> infection, while prevalence ranged from 9.5% to 84% among farms. It was also possible to detect the presence of the two species of intermediate hosts of this trematode in Cuba, <em>Galba cubensis</em> and <em>Pseudosuccinea columella</em>. Main attention must be given to bovine prevalence found in this study in order to prevent eventual human outbreaks of this disease