Estimated egg production of Fasciola gigantica (Japanese strain) in goats experimentally infected with 50 metacercariae

Egg production capacity in Fasciola gigantica (Japanese strain) was estimated from egg count data obtained by the experimental infection of two goats. The goats were inoculated with a single dose of 50 metacercariae. The first goat was necropsied 132 days after infection (DAI) and the second goat 732 DAI. After patency, daily faecal production was collected and weighed and number of eggs per gram was counted. At necropsy, 23 flukes were recovered from the liver of the first goat, and five from the second goat. The mean number of eggs produced per day per worm (± 95 % confidence limits) was 9 477.9 (± 764.92) for the first goat at 106 to 132 DAI, and 8,064.1 (± 416.49) at 195 to 561 DAI for the second goat. The number of eggs produced per day per worm in F. gigantica (Japanese strain) has thus reached values ranged from approximately 8 000 to 10 000 eggs.