The studies were conducted between 1999 and 2001 in two hunting regions. Larval alariosis was revealed in the boars only in one of the studied regions. In this region, the results of the parasitological studies, conducted towards A.alata in the direct host (domestic dogs) and indirect hosts (snails: Planorbis planorbis and Anisus vortex as well as frogs: Rana temporaria and Rana terrestris) were also positive. The lack of the host snails A.alata in the other region might have resulted from no presence of the parasite in the boar.
A parasitological survey of 396 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes L.) from the Principat d'Andorra, 34 Spanish provinces and Serra da Malcata (Portugal) was carried out to evaluate the fluke status of this wild canid in the Iberian Peninsula. Special attention was devoted to the epidemiological role of this canid in maintaining the potential zoonotic distomatosis. Four fluke species were detected: adults of Brachylaima sp., Alaria alata, Opistorchis felineus and Metorchis bilis. Seventeen foxes (4.3%) were infected by at least one of these digeneans. All flukes with an aquatic life cycle were found mainly (26.9%) in a delimited zone (called zone A), characterised by high amount surface water, with A. alata being the most prevalent species (19.2%). Metorchis bilis is more frequently and widely distributed throughout Iberia than O. felineus. Since both flukes have a very similar life cycle, this might be the result of a distinct distribution pattern of their appropriate snails. This study shows that a relatively large natural focus of potential zoonotic flukes (zone A) is located in central Iberia, near the boundary of Portugal with Spain.