Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Human and animal fascioliasis in Mazandaran province, northern Iran

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Parasitology Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The fascioliasis situation in humans and livestock of Iranian Mazandaran is analysed for the first time. Coprological studies showed 7.3% and 25.4% global prevalences in sheep and cattle, respectively. Studies in slaughterhouses indicate that sheep and cattle may be the main reservoir species, buffaloes may play local roles in the transmission, and goats and horses probably only participate sporadically. Morphometric studies by computer image analysis showed that forms intermediate between Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica appear in addition to both species. A total of 107 infected humans were diagnosed during the 1999–2002 period, which suggests that fascioliasis may be widespread. The absence of differences in human fascioliasis among gender and age groups differs from other human endemic areas. Both human and animal infections show marked differences between western and eastern Mazandaran. Traditions in herbal condiments for human consumption, methods of animal husbandry and annual rainfall may explain the higher prevalences in western Mazandaran.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ash LR, Orihel TC (1987) Parasites: a guide to laboratory procedures and identification. American Society of Clinical Pathologists, Chicago

  • Assmar M, Milaninia A, Amir-Khani A, YadegariA D, Forghanparast K, Nahravanian H, Piazak N, Esmayli A, Hovanesian A, Valadkhani Z (1991) Seroepidemiological investigation of fascioliasis in northern Iran. Med J Islamic Repub Iran 5:23–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Bargues MD, Vigo M, Horak P, Dvorak J, Patzner RA, Pointier JP, Jackiewicz M, Meier-Brook C, Mas-Coma S (2001) European Lymnaeidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda), intermediate hosts of trematodiases, based on nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS-2 sequences. Infect Genet Evol 1:85–107

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bergeon P, Laurent M (1970) Différences entre la morphologie testiculaire de Fasciola hepatica et Fasciola gigantica. Rev Elev Méd Vét Pays Trop 23:223–227

  • Chen MG, Mott KE (1990) Progress in assessment of morbidity due to Fasciola hepatica infection: a review of recent literature. Trop Dis Bull 87:R1–R38

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawes B, Hughes DL (1964) Fascioliasis: the invasive stage of Fasciola hepatica in mammalian hosts. Adv Parasitol 2:97–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Esteban JG, Bargues MD, Mas-Coma S (1998) Geographical distribution, diagnosis and treatment of human fascioliasis: a review. Res Rev Parasitol 58:13–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Esteban JG, Flores A, Angles R, Mas-Coma S (1999) High endemicity of human fascioliasis between Lake Titicaca and La Paz valley, Bolivia. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 93:151–156

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Esteban JG, Gonzalez C, Bargues MD, Angles R, Sanchez C, Naquira C, Mas-Coma S (2002) High fascioliasis infection in children linked to a man-made irrigation zone in Peru. Trop Med Int Health 7:339–348

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Esteban JG, Gonzalez C, Curtale F, Muñoz-Antoli C, Valero MA, Bargues MD, El Sayed M, El Wakeel A, Abdel-Wahab Y, Montresor A, Engels D, Savioli L, Mas-Coma S (2003) Hyperendemic fascioliasis associated with schistosomiasis in villages in the Nile Delta of Egypt. Am J Trop Med Hyg 69:429–437

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Farid H (1971) Human infection with Fasciola hepatica and Dicrocoelium dendriticum in Isfahan area, Central Iran. J Parasitol 57:160

    Google Scholar 

  • Forghanparast K (1993) Clinicoepidemiological study of human fascioliasis in Gilan. J Med Coll, Gilan Univ Med Sci 2:63–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuentes MV, Valero MA, Bargues MD, Esteban JG, Angles R, Mas-Coma S (1999) Analysis of climatic data and forecast indices for human fascioliasis at very high altitude. Ann Trop Med Parasitol 93:835–850

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins DR (1992) Homing in on helminths. Am J Trop Med Hyg 46:626–634

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lapage G (1968) Some Trematoda parasitic in farm animals. In: Lapage G (ed) Veterinary parasitology, 2nd edn. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, pp 329–345

  • Marcilla A, Bargues MD, Mas-Coma S (2002) A PCR-RFLP assay for the distinction between Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica. Mol Cell Prob 16:327–333

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mas-Coma S (2003) Fascioliasis, the vector-borne parasitic disease with the widest latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal distribution known. Proceedings of the International Symposium: Asian unique strategy against Asian parasitic diseases for Asian people by Asian parasitologists (AAA) and the 2nd Congress of the Federation of Asian Parasitologists (FAP), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan, 12–14 November 2003). FAP J: 20–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Mas-Coma S (2004a) Human fascioliasis. In: Waterborne zoonoses: understanding their identification, causes, and control. IWA for the World Health Organization, Geneva

  • Mas-Coma S (2004b) Human fascioliasis: epidemiological patterns in human endemic areas of South America, Africa and Asia. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health (in press)

  • Mas-Coma S, Bargues MD (1997) Human liver flukes: a review. Res Rev Parasitol 57:145–218

    Google Scholar 

  • Mas-Coma S, Rodriguez A, Bargues MD, Valero MA, Coello JR, Angles R (1997) Secondary reservoir role of domestic animals other than sheep and cattle in fascioliasis transmission in the northern Bolivian Altiplano. Res Rev Parasitol 57:39–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Mas-Coma S, Esteban JG, Bargues MD (1999a) Epidemiology of human fascioliasis: a review and proposed new classification. Bull World Health Organ 77:340–346

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mas-Coma S, Bargues MD, Esteban JG (1999b) Human fasciolosis. In: Dalton JP (ed) Fasciolosis. CABI, Wallingford, pp 411–434

  • Mas-Coma S, Bargues MD, Marty AM, Neafie RC (2000) Hepatic trematodiases. In: Meyers WM, Neafie RC, Marty AM, Wear DJ (eds) Pathology of infectious diseases, vol 1. Helminthiases. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and American Registry of Pathology, Washington, pp 69–92

  • Mas-Coma S, Funatsu IR, Bargues MD (2001) Fasciola hepatica and lymnaeid snails occurring at very high altitude in South America. Parasitology 123:S115–S127

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mas-Coma S, Bargues MD, Valero MA, Fuentes MV (2003) Adaptation capacities of Fasciola hepatica and their relationships with human fascioliasis: from below sea level up to the very high altitude. In: Combes C, Jourdane J (eds) Taxonomy, ecology and evolution of metazoan parasites, vol 2. Presses Universitaires de Perpignan, Perpignan, pp 81–123

  • Massoud J (1990) Fascioliasis outbreak of man and drug test (triclabendazol) in Caspian littoral, northern part of Iran, 1989. Bull Soc Fr Parasitol 8 [Suppl 1]:438

  • Massoud J (1993) Present status of human fascioliasis in Iran. In: Food-borne trematodes. World Health Organization, Manila

  • Pourttaghva M, Shafi A, Saberi A, Bahar K, Solymanlou F (1990) Fasciolase en Iran. Bull Soc Fr Parasitol 8 [Suppl 1]:404

  • Rim HJ, Farag HF, Sornmani S, Cross JH (1994) Food-borne trematodes: ignored or emerging? Parasitol Today 10:207–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabokbar RD (1960) Geographical distribution of Fasciola hepatica and its relation with human distomatosis (in Persian). J School Med Tehran Univ 17:251–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahba GH, Arfaa F, Farahmandian I, Jalali H (1972) Animal fascioliasis in Khuzestan, southwestern Iran. J Parasitol 58:712–716

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Santiago N, Hillyer GV (1988) Antibody profiles by EITB and ELISA of cattle and sheep infected with Fasciola hepatica. J Parasitol 74:810–818

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Santiago N, Hillyer GV, Garcia-Rosa M, Morales MH (1986) Identification of functional Fasciola hepatica antigens in experimental infections in rabbits. Int J Parasitol 14:197–206

    Google Scholar 

  • Smithers SR (1982) Fascioliasis and other trematode infections. In: Cohen S, Warren KS (eds) Immunology of parasitic infections, 2nd edn. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 608–621

  • Sohrabi AK (1969) Human cases of distomatosis along the Caspian Sea (in Persian). Paper presented at the 3rd Veterinary Congress, Tehran

  • Valero MA, Marti R, Marcos MD, Robles F, Mas-Coma S (1998) Le mollusque Lymnaea truncatula (Lymnaeidae) dans les rizières de l’Est de l’Espagne. Vie Milieu 48:73–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Valero MA, Darce NA, Panova M, Mas-Coma S (2001) Relationships between host species and morphometric patterns in Fasciola hepatica adults and eggs from the northern Bolivian Altiplano hyperendemic region. Vet Parasitol 102:85–100

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Valero MA, Santana M, Morales M, Hernandez JL, Mas-Coma S (2003) Risk of gallstone disease in advanced chronic phase of fascioliasis: an experimental study in a rat model. J Infect Dis 188:787–793

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (1995) Control of food-borne trematode infections. WHO Technical Report Series, World Health Organization, Geneva, 849:1–157

  • Yadegari D, Talaie H (1996) Six years follow-up of triclabendazole in human fascioliasis. 7th Iranian Congress of Internal Medicine (16–19 May 1996), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Abstract 167

  • Yadegari D, Forghanparast K, Assmar M (1990) Investigation of an epidemic of fascioliasis in north Iran. 7th International Congress of Parasitology, Paris. Bull Soc Fr Parasitol 8 [Suppl 2]:868

  • Yadegari D, Talaie H, Massoud J (1999) Clinical trial of triclabendazole on human fascioliasis: long term follow up. Med J Islamic Repub Iran 13:89–91

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Funds for this study were furnished by the Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Spanish collaboration was funded by Project no. BOS2002-01978 of the DGICYT, Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology, Madrid, and by the Red de Investigación de Centros de Enfermedades Tropicales—RICET (Project no. C03/04 of the Programme of Redes Temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa) of the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (FIS), Spanish Ministry of Health, Madrid. This work was carried out while the fifth autor (P.A.) was the recipient of a predoctoral MAE fellowship from the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional (A.E.C.I.) of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Madrid, Spain). The personnel of the central Mazandaran Health Centre in Sari are greatly acknowledged for their contributions. The results of this paper could not have been obtained without the collaboration of the Iranian Veterinary Organization (IVO) both in Tehran (Dr. K. Safari) and Mazandaran province (Dr. Z. Nategh). Special thanks are given to Dr. A. Mahvi (School of Public Health, Tums) for his help in ecological aspects, Dr. G. Zamani (Tehran University of Medical Sciences) for the use of his facilities, Dr. M. Naghavi (Ministry of Health, Medicine and Medical Education) for official support, Dr. H. Rostamkolahi (Mazandaran Province Health Centre) for medical data, and the Babol Research Centre for providing laboratory facilities. S. Mas-Coma, M.D. Bargues and M.V. Fuentes visited Iran thanks to an Agreement between the School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, and the Department of Parasitology of the University of Valencia, Spain, and the support of WHO Geneva Headquarters. Dr. Ali-Reza Mesdaghinia (Dean) and Dr. K. Holakouie (Vice-Dean and Head of the Epidemiology Unit) of the School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, and Dr. L. Savioli and Dr. A. Montresor (PVC/CPE, WHO, Geneva) are greatly acknowledged for their help in facilitating the international collaboration necessary for the research activities developed.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Parasitology and Medical Mycology, School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 6446, 14155, Tehran, Iran

    A. S. Moghaddam & J. Massoud

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 6446, 14155, Tehran, Iran

    M. Mahmoodi

  3. Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 6446, 14155, Tehran, Iran

    A. H. Mahvi

  4. Departamento de Parasitología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Valencia, Av. Vicent Andrés Estellés s/n, 46100 , Burjassot, Valencia, Spain

    M. V. Periago, P. Artigas, M. V. Fuentes, M. D. Bargues & S. Mas-Coma

Authors
  1. A. S. Moghaddam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. Massoud
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. Mahmoodi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. A. H. Mahvi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. M. V. Periago
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. P. Artigas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. M. V. Fuentes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. M. D. Bargues
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. S. Mas-Coma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Mas-Coma.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Moghaddam, A.S., Massoud, J., Mahmoodi, M. et al. Human and animal fascioliasis in Mazandaran province, northern Iran. Parasitol Res 94, 61–69 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-004-1169-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-004-1169-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation