Gelli Goll, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan
Focus Site Project: Detection of the fluke infection status of on farm snail habitats as a tool to manage liver fluke
Project aims:
- The mud snail Galba truncatula is the key intermediate host for liver and rumen fluke.
- Specifically, they are seen in areas of wet habitats such as ponds, stream edges, ditches and areas of wet and muddy ground.
- The liver fluke parasite cercaria life stage leaves the snail to encyst on herbage that may be grazed by livestock and therefore these habitats are a key area of infection on any farm.
- However, not all suitable snail habitats on a farm will be habited by snails and only a minority of snails will be infected by liver fluke.
- This project aims to tie in an evaluation of the usefulness of providing this information to the farmer through a series of repeated surveys of snails within the on-farm habitats.
- With the continued development of an eDNA assay for both the mud snail and the liver fluke parasite that could serve as the foundation of a longer term and more accessible test of habitat infection levels.