PPT Slide
General Life Cycle - Chinese liver fluke, Clonorchis sinensis
- Adults live in the bile ducts of humans, dogs, and cats
- There are 2 intermediate hosts: a snail and a fish
- Eggs are passed out of the definitive host and hatch as ciliated larvae called miracidia
- The miracidia penetrates a snail molluscan host and becomes a sporocyst
- They undergo asexual reproduction producing larvae called rediae
- Rediae often asexually produce more rediae, but will eventually give rise to larvae called cercariae
- They leave the molluscan host and penetrate fish
- They encyst in the fish tissues as the metacercaria
- Consumption of infected fish results in the metacercaria excysting in the gut and migrating to the bile duct