Fascioliasis has not been confirmed as a human disease entity until now in Korea despite of sporadic discovery of ova of Fasciola sp. in human fecal materials being never traced to the confirmation of infection. Almost all of the cases with ova in their stool have been related with consumption of cattle liver whether eaten in raw or processed. The present authors confirmed a human fascioliasis case who was a Korean housewife of 42-year-old living in Seoul, during the exploratory laparotomy. The patient had been healthy until October 1975 when abrupt onset of urticaria, dyspepsia, epigastric discomfort developed. And the fluctuation of these symptoms was followed by epigastric colicky pain attacks from December 4, 1975. A complete worm of Fasciola sp. was removed during the bile-duct exploration with stone forceps in lower half of common bile duct, on January 20, 1976. The patient only agreed that she had eaten some raw liver of cattle on September 1975 but denied any possible sources of infection such as drinking of untreated water, handling of water flower and grass, and eating of raw watercress. The measurements of the removed worm: 35. 61 mm in body length, 14.00 mm in maximum body width(Length/width ratio, 2.54:1), distribution of testes to body length 33.9 per cent , number of branches of ovary 22, the size of intrauterine ova 157.2 x 108. 4 micrometer in average. These findings are not compatible with the classical descriptions of both Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica, and it was concluded it is so-called Fasciola sp. which is intermediate between two species as proposed by many Japanese workers.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; Fasciola hepatica ; Fasciola gigantica ; Fasciola sp. ; case report ; fascioliasis ; laparotomy ; bile-duct

The purpose of the present study is to demonstrate the distribution of carbonic anhydrase pattern in the various termatodes (Fasciola gigantica, Paramphistoma orthocoelium, Paragonimus westermani) by means of Kurada staining method, and to correlate these findings with the histochemical data and harboring location. The results are summarized as follows: In Fasciloa gigantica, carbonic anhydrase activity was positive in the vitelline gland cells and eggs in the uterus. In Paramphistoma orthocoelium, carbonic anhydrase activity was positive in the vitelline gland cells and eggs in the uterus. In Paragonimus westermani, carbonic anhydrase activity was positive in intestinal mucous membrane, vitelline gland cells and eggs.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; Fasciola gigantica ; Paramphistoma orthocoelium ; Paragonimus westermani ; histochemistry ; carbonic anhydrase

Two monoclonal antibodies to Fasciola gigantica excretory/secretory (ES) antigens were used in a sandwich ELISA for the detection of Fasciola antigens in faeces of 9 sheep experimentally infected with 300 metacercariae of F. gigantica. The detection of coproantigens was found in four of the seven sheep within 5 weeks of infection, and within 7 weeks of infection coproantigens were detected in all seven of the sheep. This technique was compared to an indirect ELISA for the detection of anti-Fasciola ES antigen specific antibodies in serum. The anti-F. gigantica antibodies were detected within 3 weeks of infection in all of the infected sheep, suggesting a greater sensitivity to detect early infections. However, following anthelmintic treatment and removal of parasites, the anti-Fasciola antibody levels still remained high for at least 6 weeks when the study was terminated. In contrast, the levels of coproantigens were no longer detected in the faeces within 2 weeks of anthelmintic treatment. This study demonstrates that our sandwich ELISA for the detection of Fasciola coproantigens is able to detect immature fluke infections and more importantly, was able to detect patent infection of fasciolosis.
Sheep ; week ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Infection as complication of medical care ; Fasciola gigantica