Liver Fluke damage

daw

Well-Known Member
Shot a Roe yesterday which was with two others grazing on a field and acting normally. On inspection she appeared a tad underweight, no sign of infection or diarrhea.

Liver had hard lumpy capsules within. These capsules were white walled and upto 2/3 cm long. They contained green material which was soft in some and then more granulated in others. The more granulated ones also contained hard black grains upto 3mm square. These were like shiny coal and almost metallic in nature.

http://wildlifedisease.unbc.ca/liver_flukes.htm This is a link to a web page which details liver fluke and shows at the top of the page a photo similar to the liver damage I have seen and described.

I have come across liver flukes before but not seen anywhere near this level of damage. I can't find any flukes in the liver.

I assume that the capsules, green and black material are the results of liver fluke infestation? Can anyone expand please?

Below are photos I've taken.

thanks David

View attachment 37637View attachment 37636View attachment 37638View attachment 37639View attachment 37640View attachment 37641View attachment 37642
 
What you are seeing is not the flukes themselves but the damage/disease that they cause to the liver. I think! I'm sure someone will know the definitive answer....
 
Nor have I! It's strange, those are quite thick capsules, so what ever is in them has been there a while. The rest of the liver looks relatively normal. I'd wonder about some sort of bacterial infection. How old was the doe? What did any of the lymph nodes look like (especially the portal ones). I have seen some encapsulated fluke, but the contents were a dark red, almost necrotic. Do you still have the liver? It would due good to get the local VLA to look at it (Bury St Edmonds I think for Norfolk). There is part of me that would consider TB.
 
BDS are looking for samples for research. Be interesting to send them some and see what they come back with. Might be of great interest to them. Look on the BDS site for details.
 
I'm not sure I know what it is. Even looking at the bigger pictures now on my laptop. I really don't think fluke.

Some kind of bateraemia (bacteria spreading in the blood?).

TB has to be on the list.

Why 'gritty'. Bile salt accumulation?
 
Hmm, just clicked on your link. This does look similar, but refers to Fasciola magna, not F. hepatica. We don't have magna in the UK. Yet. So there is a real interest in getting this looked at more closely, ideally some histopathology. If you have any bits left, including any dropping from the rectum, that would be of use. Can I forward the photos please? PM me with a contact number.
 
I've just spoken to a very helpful Vet at the Defra AHVLA after sending him some photos.

His opinion is that it is due to bile duct damage most likely caused by previous liver fluke infestation. Hard substance was likely to be some form of mineralisation.

Thanks to all who have shown an interest.
 
An interesting thread thank you.:tiphat:

Michigan gov website seems to indicate Magna has been found in Europe in Red, Fallow and Sambar?
 
Gents, I summarised a 10/15 minute telephone conversation during which I didn't take notes. At the end I asked him about the black hard deposits. He said that it was possibly mineralisation, but I wouldn't hold that to him as it was off the top of his head so to speak. He was of the firm opinion that the damage was due to liver fluke. He is passing the photos to the Dept which deals with TB, as a matter of course, if I get any update I will post details on this thread.
 
Giant Liver Fluke

Hope this link works, this looks very similar.

It does. This is one of the reasons I am more interested as Fascioloides magna has never been found on UK soil as far as I know.

If it is here we need to know.

This is where your public and animal health duty extends too when gralloching deer. Some things are more important than 'eat or bin'.
 
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It does. This is one of the reasons I am more interested as Fasciola magna has never been found on UK soil as far as I know.

If it is here we need to know.

This is where your public and animal health duty extends too when gralloching deer. Some things are more important than 'eat or bin'.

Apache what are the consequences if the diagnosis is Giant Liver Fluke? I am assuming the same as normal liver fluke, would this be correct?
 
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