the cat liver fluke, a species frequently found as a human parasite in Eastern Europe, Siberia, India, Japan, and Southeast Asia; adults are shaped like lancets, thin, relatively transparent, and hermaphroditic, with sizes ranging from 7-12 by 2-3 mm; ingested eggs hatch in Bithynia snails, and cercariae encyst on various species of freshwater fish; humans acquire the infection by ingesting raw or inadequately cooked fish; the parasites sometimes cause no evidence of disease, but cholangitis, biliary cirrhosis, and chronic pancreatitis may occur.
