ABSTRACT
Dicrocoeliasis is an infection of the bile ducts of sheep, cattle, and other herbivores that may cause disease in the affected animals. Two species of liver flukes cause dicrocoeliasis, viz., Dicrocoelium dendriticum (D. dendriticum) (Rudolphi, 1819) Looss, 1899 and D. hospes Looss, 1907. Sheep- and cattle-raising countries are apparently menaced by dicrocoeliasis due to D. dendriticum. D. dendriticum has an elongate body, which is narrow anteriorly, and the widest portion is behind the middle. Thymol was one of the first drugs to be used against dicrocoeliasis in sheep and cattle and in a few human cases. Thymol was followed by Fouadin and then by Thiobendazole. Hexachloroparaxylol, which is used in treatment of fascioliasis, was found to be effective in the treatment of dicrocoeliasis in sheep. Control of dicrocoeliasis is similar to that of several other fluke infections, except that in this case, there is control of ants and terrestrial snail hosts.
