liver fluke (liver fluke)

noun

• a fluke which has a complex life cycle and is of medical and veterinary importance. The adult lives within the liver tissues of a vertebrate, and the larva within one or more secondary hosts such as a snail or fish.

  • Many species in the subclass Digenea, class Trematoda, including the Chinese liver fluke (Opisthorchis sinensis), which infests humans, and Fasciola hepatica, which infests sheep and cattle