Lymnaea palustris and Lymnaea fuscus are potential but uncommon intermediate hosts of Fasciola hepatica in Sweden

Table 3 Infection characteristics of Lymnaea fuscus, Lymnaea palustris and Galba truncatula

	Snail species
Infection characteristic	*Lymnaea fuscus*	*Lymnaea palustris*	*Galba truncatula*
Shell size at day of exposure (mm)	1-2	1-2	1-2	≥ 2-4
Prevalence of F. hepatica infection (%)	13.0	51.3	89.5	91.9
Number of infected snails (CS + NCS)	9	40	51	68
Number of snails with cercarial shedding (CS)/snails without cercarial shedding (NCS)	1/8	17/23	34/17	59/9
First observed cercarial shedding (day post exposure)	68	61	46	43
Mean number of spontaneously shed cercariae per CS snail ± S.D.	18^a	18 ± 23^a	103 ± 80^b	130 ± 102^b
Total number of metacercariae in all CS snails	18	348	3619	7952
Mean number of MC per NCS snail (± S.D.) at dissection (after crushing)	157 ± 58^a	165 ± 51^a	269 ± 114^b	299 ± 88^b

Superscript letters (a, b) indicate significant differences (p < 0.05) in metacercarial/cercarial production between groups.
CS, cercariae shedding snails (spontaneous shedding of cercariae during experiment).
NCS, non cercariae shedding snails (snails that did not produce cercariae spontaneously but contained F. hepatica larvae).

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