ABSTRACT
Fascioloidiasis is due to infection with Fascioloides magna (F. magna) (Bassi, 1875) Ward, 1917, another member of the family Fasciolidae. F. magna belongs to the same subfamily, Fasciolinae, with Fasciola hepatica, F. gigantica, and F. nyanzae. In its normal host, the deer, F. magna lives in a thin fibrous cyst which opens into the biliary system. Fecal droppings of infected Cervidae contain operculated unembryonated eggs of F. magna. Eggs F. magna of are yellow-brown in color, and this is characteristic of the sclerotin which constitutes the shell of fasciolid eggs in general. Lymnaeid snails serve as the intermediate host for F. magna, as they do for Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica. Certain chemotherapeutic compounds used against Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica have been recommended for the treatment of F. magna infections. Some of these drugs, such as carbon tetrachloride, hexachloroethane, and tetrachloroethylene, have been administered to animals infected with F. magna but proved to be ineffective.
