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142 Trematode Infections

Trematodes or flukes are flatworms of the class Trematoda of the phylum Platyhelminthes. They have complex life cycles that usually involve a snail as an intermediate host. The definitive host that harbors the adult worms, generally a mammal, ac­quires the parasite by ingesting an encysted form in a second intermediate host or on vegetation.

Many species can infect human beings, but most of these are normally resident in other mammals, and hu­mans are just accidental hosts.

K. David Patterson

Bibliography

Goldsmid, J. M. 1975. Ecological and cultural aspects of human trematodiasis (excluding schistosomiasis) in Africa. CentralAfricanJournal OfMedicine 21: 49-53.

Healy, G. R. 1970. Trematodes transmitted to man by fish, frogs, and Crustacea. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 6: 255-61.

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Source: Kiple Kenneth F. (Editor). The Cambridge World History of Human Disease. Cambridge University Press,1993. — 1200 p.. 1993

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