C. Meunier et al., Lack of molluscan host diversity and the transmission of an emerging parasitic disease in Bolivia, MOL ECOL, 10(5), 2001, pp. 1333-1340
Fasciolosis is a re-emerging parasitic disease that affects an increasing n
umber of people in developing countries. The most severe endemic affects th
e Bolivian Altiplano, where the liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) and its her
maphroditic snail host, Lymnaea truncatula, have been introduced from Europ
e. To achieve a better understanding of the epidemiological situation and t
he consequences of the colonization event of this invasive species, genetic
analysis of Bolivian snail populations was needed. Here we compare the gen
etic diversity and population structure of snail samples from the Bolivian
Altiplano with samples from the Old World at six polymorphic microsatellite
loci. Whereas some variability exists in the snail populations from the Ol
d World, we observe only a single genotype of L. truncatula in the Bolivian
Altiplano. We discuss the possible explanations for such a reduction in ge
netic variability, and, given the high natural parasitism pressures exerted
on the snail populations, we discuss the relevance of this result for host
-parasite interactions.