Control de fasciola hepatica en el agua de consumo animal a través de filtración rápida y lenta

Abstract

The bovine fasciolosis is a zoonosis caused by Fasciola hepatica transmitted by consuming water and / or vegetables contaminated with the digenea. This disease causes significant economic losses in the dairy producer regions of Antioquia. In order to remove the eggs of the parasite from water, we designed and built two filters (rapid and slow filtration), using industrial sand as filter bed (effective size 0.45-0.55 mm). A rapid filtration system was evaluated at speeds of 5 and 8 m/h for a sand bed height of 60 cm and a slow filtration system at a speed of 1.46 m/h for sand bed heights of 30 and 40 cm. The variation of effluent flow and removal efficiency of both turbidity and parasite eggs were determined during the run of each filtration. The results show that all filters operating under the described features are 100% efficient in removing the F. hepatica eggs from the water. The turbidity removal percentages were 85.5% and 79.4% for filters operating at speeds of 5 m/h and 8 m/h respectively.