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Flukes: Trematoda - Physical Characteristics, Behavior And Reproduction, Lancet Fluke (dicrocoelium Dendriticum): Species Accounts, Human Blood Fluke (schistosoma Mansoni): Species Accounts - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, DIET, FLUKES AND PEOPLE, CONSERVATIO

LANCET FLUKE (Dicrocoelium dendriticum): SPECIES ACCOUNTS
HUMAN BLOOD FLUKE (Schistosoma mansoni): SPECIES ACCOUNTS
NO COMMON NAME (Fasciola hepatica): SPECIES ACCOUNTS

GEOGRAPHIC RANGE

Flukes live all over the world.

HABITAT

The habitat of a fluke is the same as that of its host and can change as the fluke goes from host to host.

DIET

Flukes cannot live without nourishment from a host organism. In some species the larvae (LAR-vee), or animals in an early stage that change form before becoming adults, do not eat. Adult flukes eat blood cells, mucus, and body cells.

FLUKES AND PEOPLE

Flukes pose a health threat to humans. Fluke diseases cause weakness, diarrhea, bleeding, fever, abdominal pain, and other severe symptoms.

HEALTH THREAT

After malaria, the disease caused by human blood flukes is the most common parasitic disease in the world, affecting more than two hundred million people in more than seventy-five countries.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Flukes are not threatened or endangered.