Abstract
Liver and intestinal flukes (LIF) are important groups of foodborne zoonotic trematodes (FZTs) in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. Their complex life cycles require specific freshwater snail species as the obligatory first intermediate hosts. In 2019, we conducted a longitudinal study in Yen Bai and Thanh Hoa provinces in North and Central Vietnam, respectively, to investigate the diversity of LIF and their infection prevalence in relation to snail host abundance and environmental factors. Using a combination of morphological and molecular identification techniques, we identified 10 LIF species infecting 11 snail host species. We observed significant seasonal variation in the mean abundance of several snail host species, with the majority of snails collected during the spring. We also detected seasonal changes in LIF species composition, with the highest species richness reported in the spring. Clonorchis sinensis and Fasciola gigantica, two medically important human liver flukes in Asia, were found only in the spring in Yen Bai. Our study revealed that not all snail host species have the same probability of becoming infected, and we recorded seasonal variations in the prevalence of LIF infection in different snail species in relation to water parameters.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study is available from the corresponding author (Dung Thi Bui, dung_parasittologist@yahoo.com), upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge our colleague, Ms. Dinh Thi Khanh Huyen, DVM (Department of Parasitology, Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources) for their assistance in field work and laboratory investigation. We are grateful to Rs. Chu Minh Phuong (Lab of Bioinformatics (LoBI), Institute of Biotechnology) for statistical consultation. We also thank Mr. Do Tuan Anh (Department of Nematology, Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources) for graphical design.
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This study presents research finding from the “Foodborne zoonotic trematode infections and integrated control in Vietnam – FOODTINC” project, supported by ARES and funded by the Belgian Development Cooperation and the project grant number 106.05-2017.26 funded by the Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED).
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Phuong Thi Xuan Nguyen, Bertrand Losson, Dung Thi Bui: conceptualization; Phuong Thi Xuan Nguyen, Bertrand Losson, Dung Thi Bui: methodology; Phuong Thi Xuan Nguyen, Hien Van Hoang, Dung Thi Bui: investigation and lab work; Phuong Thi Xuan Nguyen, Dung Thi Bui: data analysis, writing original draft; Phuong Thi Xuan Nguyen, Pierre Dorny, Hien Van Hoang, Bertrand Losson, Bernard Mignon, Dung Thi Bui: writing—review and editing; Bertrand Losson, Bernard Mignon, Dung Thi Bui: supervision; Dung Bui Thi, Bertrand Losson: project administration; All the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Nguyen, P.T.X., Dorny, P., Van Hoang, H. et al. Environmental influence on abundance and infection patterns of snail intermediate hosts of liver and intestinal flukes in North and Central Vietnam. Parasitol Res 123, 134 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-024-08148-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-024-08148-7