Journal Article

Susceptibility of lymnaeid snails to Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica (Digenea: Fasciolidae): a systematic review and meta-analysis

Nyagura, Ignore, Mukaratirwa, Samson, Ngcamphalala, Philile Ignecious, Malatji, Mokgadi Pulane

2025

Overview

Fasciolosis is a food-borne disease that causes major economic losses, globally. This zoonotic disease is caused by and species which employ freshwater snails from the family Lymnaeidae as their intermediate hosts. Thus, a key aspect of understanding the epidemiology of the disease lies in understanding the transmission ecology of the parasite. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to assess the experimental susceptibility and prevalence of natural infections of and in lymnaeid snails. Relevant peer-reviewed articles published in the past 20 years (2004-2023) were searched and appraised. Prevalence and infection rate estimates were based on 41 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Five thousand five hundred and seventy-five (5,575) lymnaeid snails were subjected to experimental infections and 44,002 were screened for natural infections. The overall pooled infection rate was higher in experimental infections 50% (95% CI [42-58%]) compared to natural infections of field-collected snails 6% (95% CI [0-22%]). The highest pooled infection rate was recorded in South America at 64% (95% CI [48-78%]) for experimental infections while the lowest was recorded for natural infections at 2% (95% CI [0-6%]) in Europe and 2% (95% CI [0-17%]) in Asia. In experimental studies, recorded the highest pooled prevalence at 73% (95% CI [61-84%] compared to which recorded 47% (95% CI [38-56%]). For natural infections, however, had the highest prevalence (12% (95% CI [0-30%]) while the lowest was noted for naturally infected at 2% (95% CI [0-18%]). Based on the snail species, the highest pooled prevalence was recorded for infected with and at 47% (95% CI [33-61%]) while the lowest was recorded for naturally infected at 4% (95% CI [0-10%]). Natural spp. infections in intermediate snail hosts decreased in prevalence while experimental infections have increased in prevalence over the past 20 years. While there seems to be a strong intermediate host specificity between the two spp., experimental infection results showed that and are susceptible to and , respectively.

• Publisher: PeerJ. Ltd,PeerJ, Inc,PeerJ Inc
• Subject: Animals / Argentina / Citation management software / Disease Susceptibility / Diseases / Egypt / Epidemiology / Europe / Experimental infection / Experimental infections / Fasciola / Fasciola - pathogenicity / Fasciola gigantica / Fasciola hepatica / Fasciola hepatica - pathogenicity / Fascioliasis - epidemiology / Fascioliasis - parasitology / Fascioliasis - transmission / Foodborne diseases / Fresh water / Freshwater Biology / Gastropoda / Global Health / Health aspects / Host specificity / Host-Parasite Interactions / Infections / Intermediate hosts / Iran / Lymnaea - parasitology / Lymnaeids / Medical research / Medicine, Experimental / Meta-analysis / Mollusks / Natural infections / Parasites / Parasitic diseases / Parasitology / Prevalence / Prevalence studies (Epidemiology) / Snails - parasitology / South Africa / South America / Sub-Saharan Africa / Systematic review / United Kingdom / Zoonoses