7 
Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station, 
HONOLULU 
J. G. SMITH, Special Agent in 
PRESS BULLETIN No.§£? 
THE COMMON LIVER FLUKE /J&A>IVAZ/. V&V* 
X*^ &&/ 
(Distoma hepaticum ) ^rVfffflfHlft '^ 
The fact that 990 cattle out of 3,376 slaughtered for the Hono- 
lulu market during- a period of six months in 1902 showed an 
infection of the liver-fluke and that in certain districts this para- 
site has become epizootic among cattle, calls for a brief compila- 
tion concerning the disease, its cause, transmission and remedies. 
An earlier record places the number of fluky cattle killed for mar- 
ket still higher. "In some parts of Oahu nearly all the cattle 
have been destroyed by the disease ; the sheep from dry districts, 
however, are not affected. Of 602 calves examined at Honolulu, 
298 were found infested; of 2,186 cattle, 1,313 were infested, so 
that about four-sevenths of the animals were diseased.""' 
The disease is not confined to cattle, and because of its varying 
symptoms, duration and variety of hosts has received numerous 
common names, the most familiar of which are, perhaps, the 
"sheep-rot" and "liver-rot." The hosts of the adult of this species 
are man, cattle, sheep, swine, cats, rabbits, horses, goats, deer, 
and other vertebrates, and during one phase of its intermediate 
development, certain fresh-water snails (Mollusca). The disease 
caused by this parasite has been especially destructive to sheep 
with the injury to cattle and swine next in importance. From 
reports it would seem that in no other portion of the United 
States has its attack on cattle been as serious as in Hawaii. 
What the common liver-fluke is: — The parasite is one of the 
flat-worms (Trematoda) known to science as Distoma hepaticum. 
In appearance it is perfectly flat, unsegmented and leaf-like 
* Bulletin 19. Bureauf Df Animal, lad uqti'y, US nppnrtrp ent of Agri- 
r ^wmm, 
culture. 189S, p. 42. / DQgUMgNTfi f)ftt>T 
U.S. DEPOSITORY 
