Paramphistomum

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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