The helminth parasite Fasciola hepatica causes fascioliasis in human and domestic ruminants. Economic losses due to this infection are estimated in U$S 2000-3000 million yearly. The most common method of control is the use of anthelmintic drugs. However, there is an increased concern about the growing appearance of F. hepatica resistance to Triclabendazole (TCBZ), an anthelmintic with activity over adult and young flukes. F. hepatica has eight Glutathione S-Transferase (GST) isozymes, which are enzymes involved in the detoxification of a wide range of substrates through chemical conjugation with glutathione. In the present work we identified and characterized the GST mu gene isolated from the TCBZ-susceptible and TCBZ-resistant F. hepatica strains. Total RNA was transcribed into cDNA by reverse transcription and a 657 bp amplicon corresponding to the GST mu gene was obtained. The compara...

La fasciolosis producida por Fasciola hepatica es una importante enfermedad parasitaria de la ganadería en muchos países. En Cajamarca, Perú, se reportan prevalencias superiores al 80% en el ganado lechero. El objetivo del estudio fue evaluar la capacidad de proliferación y la expresión de citoquinas (IFN-γ e IL-4) en células mononucleares de sangre periférica de terneras y vacas naturalmente infectadas, contra el antígeno no específico fitohemaglutinina y los antígenos específicos de excreción-secreción del estadio inmaduro y maduro de F. hepatica. La capacidad proliferativa fue determinada por linfoproliferación in vitro y la expresión de citoquinas se evaluó en sobrenadantes de cultivo celular por la técnica de ELISA. Las vacas infectadas con F. hepatica mostraron una disminución de la capacidad de respuesta frente a estímulos proliferativos inespecíficos y especÃ...

The authors acknowledge CONCYTEC from Peru for the financial support.

Fasciolosis caused by Fasciola hepatica, is the most prevalent parasitic disease in dairy cattle from the northern region of Cajamarca, Peru. The control of this parasite is based on the use of Triclabendazole (TCBZ), a drug that has been used for more than fifteen years in this area. Recent studies, however, have reported a lack of clinical efficacy after treating dairy cattle. This research was aimed to determine the efficacy of TCBZ in a clinical trial. Eleven dairy cows all positive to F. hepatica identified by presence of eggs in feces, were treated with TCBZ (Fasinex® 10%) at 12 mg/kg body weight. Fourteen and thirty days after treatment, the animals were analyzed for F. hepatica eggs in their feces by the fecal egg count reduction test. The results found show an overall efficacy of 31.05% and 13. 63% (14 and 30 days post treatment, respectively). Furthermore, an in vivo efficacy ...

Background Fasciola hepatica is the main agent of fasciolosis, a zoonotic disease affecting livestock worldwide, and an emerging food-borne disease in humans. Even when effective treatments are available, drugs are costly and can result in tolerance, liver damage and normally they do not prevent reinfection. Drug-resistant strains in livestock have been reported in various countries and, more worryingly, drug resistance in human cases has emerged in South America. The present study aims to characterize the transcriptome of two South American resistant isolates, the Cajamarca isolate from Peru, resistant to both triclabendazole and albendazole (TCBZR/ABZR) and the Rubino isolate from Uruguay, resistant to ABZ (TCBZS/ABZR), and compare them to a sensitive strain (Cenapa, Mexico, TCBZS/ABZS) to reveal putative molecular mechanisms leading to drug resistance. Results We observed a major redu...