Trematoda is a class within the phylum Platyhelminthes. It includes two groups of parasitic flatworms, known as flukes.
Digenea is a class of trematodes in the Platyhelminthes phylum, consisting of parasitic flatworms with a syncytial tegument and, usually, two suckers, one ventral and one oral. Adults commonly live within the digestive tract, but occur throughout the organ systems of all classes of vertebrates. Once thought to be related to the Monogenea, it is now recognised that they are closest to the Aspidogastrea and that the Monogenea are more closely allied with the Cestoda. Around 6,000 species have been described to date.
Fascioloides magna, also known as giant liver fluke, large American liver fluke or deer fluke, is trematode parasite that occurs in wild and domestic ruminants in North America and Europe. Adult flukes occur in the liver of the definitive host and feed on blood. Mature flukes measure 4 to 10 cm in length × 2 to 3.5 cm in width, and have an oval dorso-ventrally flattened body with oral and ventral sucker. The flukes are reddish-brown in colour and are covered by tegument. As with other digenean trematodes, the life cycle includes intramolluscan phase in snails. The parasite is currently distributed in wild ruminants in North America and Europe, including Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, and the United States.
Paragonimus westermani is the major species of lung fluke that infects humans, causing paragonimiasis. The species sometimes is called the Japanese lung fluke or oriental lung fluke. Human infections are most common in eastern Asia and in South America. Paragonimus westermani was discovered when two Bengal tigers died of paragonimiasis in zoos in Europe in 1878. Several years later, infections in humans were recognised in Formosa.
Echinostoma is a genus of trematodes (flukes), which can infect both humans and other animals. These intestinal flukes have a three-host life cycle with snails or aquatic organisms as intermediate hosts, and a variety of animals, including humans, as their definitive hosts.
Paragonimus is a genus of flukes (trematodes). Some tens of species have been described, but they are difficult to distinguish, so it is not clear how many of the named species may be synonyms. The name Paragonimus is derived from the combination of two Greek words, “para” and “gonimos”. Several of the species are known as lung flukes. In humans some of the species occur as zoonoses; the term for the condition is paragonimiasis. The first intermediate hosts of Paragonimus include at least 54 species of freshwater snails from superfamilies Cerithioidea and Rissooidea.
Paragonimiasis is a food-borne parasitic infection caused by the lung fluke, most commonly Paragonimus westermani. It infects an estimated 22 million people yearly worldwide. It is particularly common in East Asia. More than 30 species of trematodes (flukes) of the genus Paragonimus have been reported; among the more than 10 species reported to infect humans, and only 8 bringing about infections in humans, the most common is P. westermani, the oriental lung fluke.
Dicrocoelium dendriticum, the lancet liver fluke, is a parasite fluke that tends to live in cattle or other grazing mammals.
Liver fluke is a collective name of a polyphyletic group of parasitic trematodes under the phylum Platyhelminthes. They are principally parasites of the liver of various mammals, including humans. Capable of moving along the blood circulation, they can occur also in bile ducts, gallbladder, and liver parenchyma. In these organs, they produce pathological lesions leading to parasitic diseases. They have complex life cycles requiring two or three different hosts, with free-living larval stages in water.
Leucochloridium variae, the brown-banded broodsac, is a species of trematode whose life cycle involves the alternate parasitic invasion of certain species of snail and bird. While there is no external evidence of the worm's existence within the bird host, the invasion of the snail host involves the grotesque swelling of one or both of the snail's eye stalks as well as the takeover of the snail's brain. This invasion does not cause the snail's death, and snails who are thus invaded sometimes live longer than those which are not.
Fasciolopsis is a genus of trematodes. They are also known as the intestinal flukes.
Nanophyetus salmincola is a food-borne intestinal trematode parasite prevalent on the Pacific Northwest coast. The species may be the most common trematode endemic to the United States.
Heterophyes heterophyes was discovered by Theodor Maximaillian Bilharz in 1851. This parasite was found during an autopsy of an Egyptian mummy. H. heterophyes is found in the Middle East, West Europe and Africa. They use different species to complete their complex lifestyle. Humans and other mammals are the definitive host, first intermediate host are snails, and second intermediate are fish. Mammals that come in contact with the parasite are dogs, humans, and cats. Snails that are affected by this parasite are the Cerithideopsilla conica. Fish that come in contact with this parasite are Mugil cephalus, Tilapia milotica, Aphanius fasciatus, and Acanthgobius sp. Humans and mammals will come in contact with this parasite by the consumption of contaminated or raw fish. This parasite is one of the smallest endoparasite to infect humans. It can cause intestinal infection called heterophyiasis.
Telogaster opisthorchis is an endoparasite in the class Trematoda within the phylum Platyhelminthes. This fluke is known for causing tumor like malformations in fishes by attaching onto its spinal region in the metacercariae form. Malformations cause fish to become more susceptible to fish eating predators allowing T. opisthorchis to continue with its lifecycle.
Megalodiscus temperatus is a Digenean in the phylum Platyhelminthes. This parasite belongs to the Diplodiscidae family and is a common parasite located in the urinary bladder and rectum of frogs. The primary host is frogs and the intermediate hosts of Megalodiscus temeperatus are freshwater snails in the genus Helisoma.
Philophthalmus gralli, commonly known as the Oriental avian eye fluke, parasitises the conjunctival sac of the eyes of many species of birds, including birds of the orders Galliformes and Anseriformes. In Brazil this parasite was reported in native Anseriformes species. It was first discovered by Mathis and Leger in 1910 in domestic chickens from Hanoi, Vietnam. Birds are definitive hosts and freshwater snail species are intermediate hosts. Human cases of philophthalmosis are rare, but have been previously reported in Europe, Asia, and America.
Alaria americana is a species of a trematode in a family Diplostomidae. All of these species infect carnivorous mammals by living in their small intestines as mature worms. A. americana are most frequently found in temperate regions, predominately in northern North America. This organisms habit is extremely diverse, as it occupies four different hosts throughout its lifetime. This trematode thrives in areas close to water as it is needed for several developmental stages to occur. A. americana has been isolated to the different North American mammals with a wide range of definitive hosts, including cattle, lynx, martens, skunks, bobcats, foxes, coyotes, and wolves.
Alaria is a genus of flatworms, or trematodes, in the family Diplostomidae.
Paragonimus skrjabini is classified as a species in the genus Paragonimus, which consists of many species of lung flukes that result in the food-borne parasitic disease paragonimiasis.
Trematodiases, also known as trematode infections, are a group of diseases caused by the parasite trematodes. Symptoms can range from mild to severe depending on the species, number and location of trematodes in the infected organism. Symptoms depend on type of trematode present, and include chest and abdominal pain, high temperature, digestion issues, cough and shortness of breath, diarrhoea and change in appetite.
