<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Land snails are sources of protein to man and are hosts to a number of parasites. It is imperative that the roles of the snail hosts and parasites are clearly defined. Before then however, the parasites of the different land snails collected in any locality should be identified. Land snails were collected in the wild in both dry and wet seasons. The internal organs and the faeces were examined for the presence of parasite. In the rainy season of 2015, a total of 272 snails were collected across four major towns (Benin, Uromi, Ekpoma and Auchi) in Edo State, Nigeria, while in the dry season, fewer snails (n=91) were handpicked. The snail species seen are: <italic>Achatina achatina</italic> (Linnaeus, 1758), <italic>Achatina fulica</italic> (Férussac, 1821), <italic>Acharchatina marginata</italic> (Swainson, 1982), <italic>Limicolaria aurora</italic> (Jay, 1839), <italic>L. flammea</italic> (Müller, 1774) and <italic>Limicolariopsis</italic> spp. The larvae of <italic>Strongyloides stercoralis</italic> were isolated from the various snail species with overall prevalence of 54.04 %. Snails positive with <italic>Alaria</italic> mesocercariae were <italic>L. aurora, L. flammea</italic> and <italic>Limicolariopsis</italic> spp. Additionally, few <italic>L. flammea</italic> were positive of the cercariae of <italic>Drocoelium dedriticum</italic>. Meanwhile, some samples of <italic>A. fulica</italic> harboured larvae of <italic>Angiostrongylus cantonesis</italic>, sporocysts of <italic>Fasciola gigantica</italic> and <italic>Schistosoma mansoni</italic>. Therefore, these edible snails could pose serious health hazard to man and animals by serving as a possible alternative parasite transmission route.</p></abstract>

Land snails are sources of protein to man and are hosts to a number of parasites. It is imperative that the roles of the snail hosts and parasites are clearly defined. Before then however, the parasites of the different land snails collected in any locality should be identified. Land snails were collected in the wild in both dry and wet seasons. The internal organs and the faeces were examined for the presence of parasite. In the rainy season of 2015, a total of 272 snails were collected across four major towns (Benin, Uromi, Ekpoma and Auchi) in Edo State, Nigeria, while in the dry season, fewer snails (n=91) were handpicked. The snail species seen are: Achatina achatina (Linnaeus, 1758), Achatina fulica (Férussac, 1821), Acharchatina marginata (Swainson, 1982), Limicolaria aurora (Jay, 1839), L. flammea (Müller, 1774) and Limicolariopsis spp. The larvae of Strongyloides stercoralis were isolated from the various snail species with overall prevalence of 54.04 %. Snails positive with Alaria mesocercariae were L. aurora, L. flammea and Limicolariopsis spp. Additionally, few L. flammea were positive of the cercariae of Drocoelium dedriticum. Meanwhile, some samples of A. fulica harboured larvae of Angiostrongylus cantonesis, sporocysts of Fasciola gigantica and Schistosoma mansoni. Therefore, these edible snails could pose serious health hazard to man and animals by serving as a possible alternative parasite transmission route.

Parasites of edible land snails in Edo State, Nigeria

Department of Zoology, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria

Department of Medical Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria

Helminthologia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Parasites of edible land snails in Edo State, Nigeria"}

Land snails are sources of protein to man and are hosts to a number of parasites. It is imperative that the roles of the snail hosts and parasites are clearly...

Snail species			Organs				Others	Faeces
	Mucus gland	Digestive gland	Intestine	Crop	Stomach	Ovotestis
A.achatina	S. stercoralis	-	S. stercoralis	-	-	-	S. stercoralis	S. stercoralis
A. fulica	S. stercoralis	S. stercoralis	F. gigantica; A. cantonesis; S. mansonia	-	-	-	S. stercoralis	S. stercoralis; F. gigantica
A. marginata	S. stercoralis	-	S. stercoralis	-	-	-	S, stercoralis	S. stercoralis
L. aurora	S. stercoralis; Alaria spp.	-	S. stercoloralis	-	-	-	S. stercoralis	S. stercoralis
L. flammae	S. stercoralis; Alaria spp.	D. dendtriticum	S. stercoralis; Alaria spp; D. dentriticum	-	-	-	S. stercoralis	S. stercoralis; Alaria spp
Limicolariopsis	S. stercoralis	-	Alaria spp.	-	-	-	S. stercoralis	S. stercoralis

Location	No. examined	No. and % infected	No. and % infected with S. stercoralis	No. and % infected with Alaria spp.	No. and % infected with F. gigantica	No. and % infected with A. cantonesis	No. and % infected with D. dendriticum	No. and % infected with S. mansoni
Benin	51	22(50)	22 (100)	-	2(9.09)	2(9.09)	-	-
Ekpoma	105	65(62.52)	65 (100)	2(13.33)	-	-	-	-
Uromi	62	27(43.33)	27 (100)	-	3(11.11)	2(7.41)	-	2(7.41)
Auchi	54	33(60)	33 (100)	2(6.06)	2(6.06)	3(9.09)	2(6,06)	-
Total	272	147(54.04)	147(100)	4(2.72)	7(4.75)	7(4.75)	2(1.36)	2(1.36)

	No. examined	No. and % infected	No. and % infected with larvae of S. stercoralis	No. and % infected with mesocercaria of Alaria spp	No. and % infected with sporocyst of F. gigantica	No. and % infected with larvae of A.cantonesis	No. and % infected with Cercariae of D. dendriticum	No. and % infected with sporocyst of S. mansoni
A, achatina	48	28 (58.33)	28 (100)	-	-	-	-	-
A. fulica	41	28 (68.29)	28 (100)	-	7(17.07)	7(17.07)	-	2(7.14)
A. marginata	42	19 (45.23)	19 (100)	-	-	-	-	-
L. aurora	48	39 (81.25)	39 (100)	1(3.44)	-	-	-	-
L. flammea	73	49 (67.12)	49 (100)	2(4.08)	-	-	2 (4.08)	-
Limicolariopsis	20	10 (50)	10 (100)	1(10)	-	-	-	-

Parasites of edible land snails in Edo State, Nigeria

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Aug 10, 2016

Page range: 331 - 335

Received: May 01, 2016

Accepted: Jul 06, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/helmin-2016-0031

Keywords
Edible snails, parasites, seasons, Nigeria

© 2016 Institute of Parasitology, SAS, Košice

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Fig. 1

Parasite isolation in organs and faeces of snail

Prevalence of infected snails by location

Prevalence of snail infection with parasite

Parasites of edible land snails in Edo State, Nigeria

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Aug 10, 2016

Page range: 331 - 335

Received: May 01, 2016

Accepted: Jul 06, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/helmin-2016-0031

KeywordsEdible snails, parasites, seasons, Nigeria

© 2016 Institute of Parasitology, SAS, Košice

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Fig. 1

Parasite isolation in organs and faeces of snail

Prevalence of infected snails by location

Prevalence of snail infection with parasite

Keywords
Edible snails, parasites, seasons, Nigeria