Experimental Infections of Cattle with Fasciola hepatica : a Comparison of Low and High Infection Rates

Abstract

IT has previously been demonstrated, in single infections of cattle with 200–1,300 metacercariae, that an increase in the infection level does not alter the percentage of the infection which becomes patent and that a few of the flukes are inhibited in the damaged parenchyma, particularly in the ventral lobe where a preferential migration of the parasite occurs¹. In subsequent investigations, parasite-free calves were given single infections of 2,500, 5,000 and 15,000 metacercariae and killed 24–56 weeks post-infection.