{"id":20218,"date":"2025-12-10T11:30:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T10:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dopharma.com\/?p=20218"},"modified":"2026-02-26T14:22:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:22:03","slug":"behandeling-melkvee-leverbot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dopharma.com\/lt\/technical-support\/behandeling-melkvee-leverbot\/","title":{"rendered":"Treatment of Dairy Cattle Infected with Liver Fluke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Farms that practise grazing <\/strong>or feed fresh grass may sooner or later be confronted with liver fluke. Liver fluke is steadily gaining ground in Western Europe. Mortality due to liver fluke is rare in cattle \u2013 but does that make the disease less significant? <\/strong>Certainly not.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Liver fluke<\/strong><\/p>\n

Liver fluke infection, or distomatosis, is a parasitic disease of ruminants caused by trematodes or flatworms. The common liver fluke found in our region is Fasciola hepatica<\/em>. Worldwide, this disease causes major economic losses, mainly due to reduced milk production, weight loss, and condemned livers at slaughter. Additionally, liver fluke infection can reinforce or reduce the effects of other pathogens or interfere with their diagnosis. What is sometimes forgotten is that this parasite can also cause problems in other grass\u2011eating species and even humans.<\/p>\n

Liver fluke \u2013 prevalence and risk factors<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whereas liver fluke infections used to occur mainly in more southern regions, in recent years we have seen an increasing number of infestations in Western Europe. Changing climatic conditions (milder winters, higher temperatures, and increased rainfall) have improved the conditions for development of the parasite. Moreover, these altered weather patterns mean the period of infection risk begins earlier in the grazing season.<\/p>\n

Other factors also contribute to the spread of liver fluke within a herd. A Danish study showed that heifers and dry cows grazing on wet pastures are significant risk factors for maintaining infection on a farm. Buying in infected animals, insufficient or poor treatment of infected youngstock, and too little monitoring for resistance also contribute. Resistance to triclabendazole can allow liver fluke infections to spread steadily.<\/p>\n

Liver fluke \u2013 life cycle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Liver fluke has an indirect life cycle in which the mud snail Galba truncatula<\/em> acts as an essential intermediate host. Its presence is necessary to complete the parasite\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

In the liver, adult flukes lay eggs, which are excreted with the bile into the faeces. A single adult fluke can produce 4,000\u20137,000 eggs per day. In the environment, the eggs hatch into ciliated larvae (miracidia). These must find a mud snail within 24 hours to survive. Inside the snail, they develop further into cercariae, which leave the snail and encyst on pasture as infective metacercariae. Cattle become infected by ingesting these cysts. Once ingested, the juvenile flukes migrate through the gut wall, across the abdominal cavity, and into the liver and bile ducts.<\/p>\n

In cattle, the lifespan of a liver fluke ranges from six months to two years.<\/p>\n\t

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