Larval trematodes found in some fresh-water snails : A suggested biological method of bilharzia control

Abstract

• 1.

  This article reports a variety of larval trematodes which were found in fresh-water snails in a small locality.Special attention is drawn to organic damage caused by echinostome infection in snails.

• 2.

  Parasitized snails were seen to survive in captivity only half the time lived by uninfected snails kept under identical conditions.

• 3.

  It is possible that snails carrying an existing larval trematode infection may be unattractive to host-seeking schistosome miracidia.

• 4.

  In South Africa, bilharziasis in man becomes a problem where, among other things, he has displaced the indigenous fauna, which includes not only predators of snails but also definitive hosts of trematodes the larvae of which may interfere with the reproduction and survival of their molluscan hosts.