The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-12-24

Liver FIukeA
II the various books OF veterinary
medicine published in this country We
are told that "hukes" are a rare occur
renee in the Mvers OF our animals In
Europe hukes are often so common in
the livers Of sheep as to produce IA
tai disease known as rot or liver
rot" and the disease sometimes deci-
mates great focks. The fiuke Is par
asite OF the trematoda family and has
one Of the most interesting life his
tories known It passes out Of the
body Of the sheep In the form Of an
egg which, after dropping upon the
ground or into water. takes on new
form termed -ciliated embryo" This
form has hairs which enable Il to
swim about and look for its next host,
which ls the water slug OF snail. into
the body OF which It penetrates By
means OF special apparatus intended
for boring. Should It not and a snail
within two days after leaving the
sheep Il dies On gaining access TO a
snail Il takes on a new form In the
respiratory organs Of its host Il be-
comes encysted, contracting into an
oval mass which grows rapidly. At
this stage It is called a "sDorocyst
This sporocyst splits up into from nve
to eight bodies, called ''rediae," which
are Of small size and leave the cyst
one By one. These rediae. each one
OF them, develop within themselves nj
teen to twenty "cercariae," which are
thrust out in turn through an orihce
under the neck OF the rediae. These
eercariae are what escape from the
snail. being scattered broadcast In its
wanderings. After a short time they
lose their tails and again become en-
cysted, the contents Of these cysts be-
ing attached to blades Of grass, etc,
are swallowed by the sheep or other
animal, the gastric juice acting upon i
to break the covering, setting free the
young fukes in the stomach and duo
denum, from which they reach the BIZ
liary ducts and pass up them TO the
liver where they grow into adult her
maphrodlte parasites able to give ORR
gin to another generation Of young. At
least seventy-fve young hukes under
suitable circumstances may develop
from a single egg. The technical name
Of the fuke is "distoma hypaticum"
and It IS shaped like leech OF small
leaf In this country we begin to ind
them and It viii soon become appar-
ent that they are not so rare as the
books would make It appear. The wri-
ter recently received a number Of speci-
mems from Mexican sheep and the gov
ernment inspectors find them now and
thon in the lungs and nvers OF Texas
and other southern cattle It Is
claimed that the auke is not a native
OF this country but that where It is
found It has come to US In sheep from
other countries. This Is erroneous, for
the iluke OF the Mexican sheep is much
smaller than that so commonly found
in the sheep Of Great Britain. We be-
lleve that the fiukes found in our
sheep are originated In this country
and did not come to as from abroad.
We take this ground for the reason
that a few days ago we made a post
mortem examination OF a deer shot in
the woods Of northern Wisconsin, and
to our surprise found a number OF very
large fukes encysted in the liver. On
inquiry we found that the liver OF
every adult deer shot In Wisconsin
contains these fukes which the hun
ters call leeches. Unlike the fukes
Of sheep they are found not In the
ducts OF the liver but IN colonies OF
two to four located in cysts which sep
arate them from the tissues Of the liv-
er The cysts are filed with a dark
offensive smelling liquor which rem
ders the liver unfit for use although
most hunters have fal--l to notice the
fukes. hence ucc the frcr for food. II
may Be added thai ..er the nukes
we're pointca ont ASA set free from
their surrounding fifth that spectators
vowed they would never again eat the
liver Of an adult deer. There IS nc
danger Of sheep becoming invaded BY
this giant fiuke Of deer, which is two
and one-half inches In length and
known as -faciola hypaticum." OF II
maQua." Deer apparently suffer little
from Its presence and do not show
signs Of II until at least one year old
Where fukes are found in the liver Of
sheep not imported from Europe We
think the variety present Is 'distoma
lanceolatum, and this fuke is less
harmful than ID hypaucum" Of Brit
lsh sheep. The latter fuke may be
present a. thousands in the ducts Of 8
single liver and in that case sets up q
disease Of the liver which At irst leads
to rapid fattening and later to AZ
speedy emaciation.
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