Chai-Yong Lee

Metacercarial production of Lymnaea viridis experimentally infected with Fasciola hepatica

Three groups of Lymnaea viridis snails were infected with one, three or five Fasciola hepatica miracidia, and their metacercarial production was observed. In all groups cercarial shedding commenced in some snails as early as day 27 post-infection. The duration and pattern of cercarial shedding varied from snail to snail in each group. Snails infected with three or five miracidia produced more metacercariae than those infected with a single miracidium. The overall metacercarial production was influenced by the temperature at which the snails were kept during infection.

Rapid growth of Lymnaea viridis, the intermediate host of Fasciola hepatica, under laboratory conditions

Reported in this communication is a unusually rapid growth of Lymnaea viridis, the intermediate host of Fasciola hepatica, maintained in the laboratory for experimental purposes. When the snails were fed on blue-green algae at about 20 degrees C, they attained a shell length of 12 mm in 37 days from the date of hatching. The snails began laying eggs from 18 to 24 days following hatching.

The First Outbreak of Chorioptes texanus (Acari: Psoroptidae) Infestation in a Cattle Farm in Korea

Mites in the genus Chorioptes cause a mild form of skin disease in both domestic and wild ruminants. In July 2006, dermatitis characterized by alopecia, marked lichenification, accumulation of crust, and fissuring was recognized in 14 out of 200 Holstein dairy cattle raised in the cattle farm of the National Institute of Animal Science in Cheonan, Republic of Korea. Skin lesions were distributed mainly over the tail base, and sacral and perineal regions. Microscopic examinations of skin scraping samples from severely affected areas revealed numerous mites of all developmental stages. Morphologically, pedicels of the mites were short and unjointed. The tarsal suckers occurred on the pedicels of all the legs in the male worm and on the first, second, and fourth pair of legs in the adult female worm. A single long seta at the tarsus of legs III and the length of legs II being about twice as long as legs IV in adult male mites were observed. Arising anterior to the inner-most spatulate seta was a short seta with an average of 26.4 +/- 5.8 microm in length. Also, the length of setae #4 on the opisthosomal lobes was relatively short. Based on these observations, the mites were identified as Choriptes texanus. Although the chorioptic mange may not influence the mortality rate in the affected farm, reports indicate that a decline in milk production can be observed. This is the first report of chorioptic infestation in a cattle farm from Korea.