2.5. Infectivity of OVMC to animal host
Forty-four male golden Syrian hamsters weighing approximately
120 g were used. Hamsters were obtained from the Animal Unit,
Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University. Most of hamsters
were infected orally with 50 OVMC in 0.85% NaCl solution (Tables 1
and 2) using the gastric intubation method. After 1 to 2 months
post-infection, all hamsters were euthanized by diethyl ether inhalation
and the liver of each animal was removed and examined
for adult worms of O. viverrini. Those with positive findings were
counted and recorded. The experimental protocol was approved by
the Animal Ethics Committee of Khon Kaen University, Thailand
(AEKKU10/2558).
The efficacy of OVMC to infect a host is evaluated by worm recovery
(the total number of recovered worms divided by the number of OVMC
infections), as described elsewhere