Question: Wow your research looks really interesting! Can Liver Fluke pass from mammals to humans?

Bethan John answered on 12 Jun 2020:

Thank you! So the liver fluke life cycle is pretty quirky in that is has a main host which is usually mammalian – could be a cow, sheep or even humans in some tropical areas of the world. Liver fluke also has a second host which is a small mud snail! The mud snails infected with fluke can spread it across huge areas of farmland and animals become infected when they eat grass contaminated by the snails. In tropical countries people get fluke by eating unwashed vegetables which snails have contaminated with fluke. Mammals cannot directly pass fluke to humans as the snail host is always needed in the middle of the life cycle for fluke to be passed on 🙂