Journal Brief the Role of "Miracidial Days" in the Epidemiology of Fascioliasis

Abstract

One of the phenomena in fascioliasis is that after incubation, eggs of Fasciola do not all hatch at the same time (Thomas, 1883; Dinnik, 1956-1957; Dinnik and Dinnik, 1959). The exact period, however, when miracidia continue 10 be hatched from a given batch of eggs at specified field or laboratory conditions has not been clarified. This period of time "miracidial days" may be crucial in the epidemiology of this parasite since the snail intermediate hosts are continuously at risk of infection from a single batch of eggs. This study was designed to determine the length of time miracidia would be present in a given batch of incubating eggs of Fasciola gigantica.