Human infections by Heterophyes heterophyes and H. dispar imported from Saudi Arabia.

Author: Jong Yil CHAI ¹ ; Byong Seol SEO ; Soon Hyung LEE ; Sung Jong HONG ; Woon Mok SOHN
Author Information

1. Department of Parasitology and Institute of Endemic Diseases, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 110, Korea.
Publication Type:Original Article
MeSH: parasitology-helminth-trematoda; Heterophyes heterophyes; Heterophyes dispar; case report; praziquantel; intestine
From:The Korean Journal of Parasitology 1986;24(1):82-86
CountryRepublic of Korea
Language:English
Abstract: Two human cases of Heterophyes heterophyes and H. dispar infections were proven by the recovery of their adult worms. The cases were 38-year and 40-year old Korean workers who had been in Saudi Arabia for 4-6 years and returned home in 1983 or 1984 with gastrointestinal troubles. In Saudi Arabia they had eaten raw brackish water fishes such as the mullet. After the treatment with 10 mg/kg praziquantel and purgation with magnesium salt, a total of 19 specimens of H.heterophyes and 140 of H. dispar were collected. It is of interest that the worms persisted in a patient although he had been back in Korea for 14 months. This is the first report on imported heterophyiasis in Korea. Human infection by H. dispar is the first record in the literature.