Paramphistomum

Paramphistomum Species

Paramphistomum cervi - Joaquim Castellà Veterinary Parasitology Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

• Paramphistomomes are rare in the UK, but can cause severe losses in ruminants in the wet tropics
• The adult fluke is plump and cylindrical (unusual for a trematode)
• It attaches to the wall of the rumen without causing serious damage
• The eggs are like those of Fasciola, but are colourless
• The intermediate hosts are water snails
  • These shed cercariae that form metacercariae on vegetation
• Disease occurs if metacercariae are eaten in large numbers
• Enteritis and diarrhoea result when immature flukes migrate along the small intestine (where the metacercariae excyst) towards the rumen