Fascioliasis is a disease caused by infection with parasitic flatworms known as liver flukes, specifically Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica. These parasites are not bacteria or viruses, but rather worms that belong to a group called trematodes. The disease affects both animals—especially sheep and cattle—and humans, making it what scientists call a zoonotic infection.
## How Do People Get Infected?
The main way people catch fascioliasis is by eating contaminated food or drinking water that contains the parasite’s immature forms. Here’s how the cycle works:
– **Adult flukes** live in the bile ducts of infected animals (like cows or sheep) and lay eggs.
– These eggs pass out of the animal’s body through its feces.
– If these eggs land in freshwater—such as ponds, rivers, or irrigation canals—they hatch into tiny larvae called miracidia.
– The miracidia swim around until they find certain types of freshwater snails. Inside these snails, they multiply and develop into another larval stage called cercariae.
– The cercariae leave the snail and attach themselves to water plants like watercress, lettuce, mint, parsley, or other greens that grow near water.
– When people eat raw or undercooked contaminated plants (or sometimes drink untreated water), they swallow these larvae.
Once inside the human body, the larvae travel from the intestines through the abdominal cavity to reach the liver. There, they burrow into liver tissue and eventually move into bile ducts where they mature into adult flukes.
## Why Does This Happen?
Several factors make fascioliasis more likely:
**Eating Raw Plants:** In many places where fascioliasis is common (especially parts of South America, Africa, Asia), people traditionally eat wild aquatic plants raw in salads or as garnishes. If these plants are grown in water contaminated with parasite eggs from animal feces
