A survey on the prevalence of intestinal parasites was performed during the period from April to June of 1969, to evaluate the present status of parasitic infections in ROK Army soldiers. Stool specimens of 1,0l2 soldiers were collected from a camp located in Won-Ju area, and examined by the method of formalin-ether sedimentation technique. For protozoan cysts, examined slide was stained with Lugol's iodine solution and for eggs of Enterobius, the Graham's scotch cellulose tape anal swab technique was applied. The results obtained in this survey were as follows: Of the 1,012 soldiers examined, 95.0 percent were found infected by one or more intestinal parasites and 28.7 percent were found positive for protozoan cysts. The positive rates of each parasites were; A. lumbricoides 61.0 percent, T. trichiurus 73.4 percent, hookworm 17.5 percent, T. orientalis 9.5 percent, E. vermicularis 0.1 percent (from stool specimen), C. sinensis 8.8 percent, M. yokogawai 1.1 percent, Taenia sp. 1.0 percent (from stool), H. nana 0.3 percent and E. histolytica 7.4 percent. E. coli 12.6 percent, E. nana 5.9 percent, I. buetchlii 0.7 pecent, G. lamblia 6.1 percent, and C. mesnili 0.8 percent. From the anal swabs, eggs of Enterobius were recovered in 2.6 percent, and eggs of Taenia sp. showed positive rate of 1.5 percent.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda-nematoda-cestoda-protozoa ; epidemiology ; Ascaris lumbricoides ; Trichuris trichiurus ; hookworm ; Trichostrogylus orientalis ; Enterobius vermicularis ; Clonorchis sinensis ; Metagonimus yokogawai ; Taenia sp. ; Hymenolepis nana ; Entamoeba histolytica ; Entamoeba coli ; Endolimax nana ; Iodamoeba buetchlii ; Giardia lamblia ; Chilomastix mesnili

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

Gangweon-do is known to be highly endemic area of sparganosis more than other provinces in Korea. A seroepidmiologic examination for the detection of anti-Spirometra erinacei plerocercoid IgG in serum was carried out in normal inhabitants in Hongcheon-gun, Gangweon-do. Sere were tested by enzyme-linked immunosrobent assay (ELISA) for the anti-sparganum antibodies. Positive rate for anti-sparganum antibody in 719 adults was 3.3%. Data of the questionnaire for 24 ELISA positive inhabitants revealed that 20 had a history of eating raw meat of snakes, 24 had a history of eating frogs, and 24 had a history of drinking stream water. Two positive cases had a past history of sparganosis. Two positive cases showed current symptoms of sparganosis. The data revealed that ELISA would be useful to find infected cases among normal inhabitants at sparganosis-endemic areas.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Animals ; Antibodies, Helminth/*blood ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Human ; Immunoglobulin G/*blood ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Sparganosis/*epidemiology ; Spirometra/*immunology

Recently there have been some reports on human infections of Echinostoma hortense in Korea. It was found that a few species of freshwater fishes were playing the role of the second intermediate host of E. hortense. However, molluscan intermediate host has not been identified yet in Korea. The present study aimed to establish the life cycle of E. hortense in laboratory. Experimental studies such as egg production from the rat, development of the eggs in vitro, exposure of miracidia to freshwater snails, shedding pattern of cercariae from infected snails, morphology of cercariae, cercarial infection to the second intermediate host and infection of metacercariae to the difinitive hosts were done. In addition, epidemiological surveys on the infection status in inhabitants and house rats, and on the natural infection of larval echinostomes in the snails and fishes were carried out along the South Hangang-river. The results obtained were as follows: The eggs deposited from adults in physiological saline were cultivated at room temperature (20-24C). The miracidia were firstly observed on 8 days after cultivation, and 85.5 per cent of the eggs contained the mature miracidia on 11 days after cultivation. More than 90 per cent formed the miracidia when cultivated at temperature 22-27C. Hatching of the miracidia began on 12 days after cultivation and continued for a week. The size of the miracidia was 103.0 x 51.4 micrometer in average. The motility of miracidia were active up to 8 hours after shedding, but they were all dead within 10 hours after shedding. A freshwater snail, Radix auricularia coreana was cultivated in aquaria. A hatched F1 snails from the egg masses were exposed to 20 miracidia respectively. Escape of cercariae started on 15 days after infection. Radix auricularia coreana was experimentally identified as the first intermediate host of E. hortense in Korea. Cercarial shedding started on 15-20 days after infection by snail, continued for about 10 days (8.8 days in average). Infected snails were dead within 32 days after the miracidial infection. About 1,335 cercariae (328-1,994) per snail were shed in its life, and 119 cercariae in average per snail per day were shed. The cercariae were motile for more than 24 hours, and then squirming at the bottom until death. The body and tail sizes of cercariae were 356 x 186 micrometer and 510 x 68 micrometer in average, respectively. The rediae parasitized in the snail hosts were found mainly around the pericardial regions, and their size was 1,575 x 258 micrometer in average. The numbers of developing cercariae in a mature redia were 14 in average (7-20 in range). The numbers of rediae in a snail were 102 in average on 15 days after miracidial infection and 221 in average on 28 days. Three uninfected Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, less than 6.5 cm long were used in for the cercaria1 infection. They were all exposed with 755 cercariae, and examined at 5-day intervals starting from 10 days after infection. All the fihes were infected with metacercariae of E. hortense and a total of 275 was found infected (36.4 per cent). The metacercariae were fed to rats and the adult worms were obtained on 15 days after infection. The infected rats began to deposit the eggs on 11 days after infection. The number of eggs deposited per day per worm (EPD/worm) was 400-500 on 3 weeks after infection and was increased to 1,000-1,500 on 4 to 17 weeks, then decreased to 800 on 2l weeks after infection. A total of 745 stool specimens collected from 576 male and 169 female residents of 8 different villages along South Hangang basin was examined. Out of 745 specimens, the eggs of Echinostoma sp. were found in 2 cases (0.3 per cent). Of 34 house rats one showed egg-positive (2.9 per cent). Total 971 Radix auricularia coreana collected from 7 sampling stations were examined for shedding of cercariae. Three snails (0.3 per cent) shed the cercariae of E. hortense. A total of 119 out of 542 freshwater fishes (22.0 per cent) had the metacercariae of E. hortense. The fishes parasitized with the metacercariae were 4 out of 14 examined species. The infection rate of 4 species were 34.1 per cent (106 out of 311) in Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, 30.4 per cent 7 out of 23) in Misgurnus mizolepis, 4.3 per cent (2 out of 46) in Moroco oxycephalus and 22.2 per cent (4 out of 18) in Odontobutis obscura interrupta. In summarizing the above results, the first intermediate host of E. hortense was found as Radix auricularia coreana in Korea. Also it took about 46 days for the shortest completion of a life cycle of E. hortense in summer; that is, 10 days for miracidial development in eggs, 15 days for cercarial development in the snail, about 10 days for metacercarial development in the second intermediate hosts, 11 days for the maturation as the adults in the definitive hosts. The natural infection rates of E. hortense in the intermediate hosts were relatively high but those in the definitive hosts were low in the middle areas of South Hangang basin.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; Echinostoma hortense ; epidemiology ; biology ; Misgurnus anguillicaudatus ; Misgurnus mizolepis ; Moroco oxycephalus ; Odontobutis obscura interrupta ; Radix auricularia

To evaluate the efficacy of anthelmintic treatment of Enterobius vermicularis in highly endemic population, total 82 children in two orphanage institutes were divided into 4 groups and treated with placebo, 5 mg/kg of pyrvinium pamoate, 100 mg of mebendazole and 10 mg/kg of pyrantel pamoate respectively. Total 4 anal swabs were taken from each child before treatment and the even distributions of positive rate and consecutive results between groups were considered. Follow-up swabs were taken 8 times up to the 40th day after treatment. After remarkable and significant reduction of positive rates up to 19-27th day after treatment in respective groups, the remarkable egg positive conversions were observed 3-4 weeks after treatment. The positive conversion was the earliest and the most remarkable in pyrantel-treated children and the slowest and the least remarkable in mebendazole-treated cases. Also found was that the figures of negative conversion were different with statistical significance between two categories of cases, consecutively positive and alternately positive cases of pre-treatment swabs. This means that the conventional indices of cure rate in E. vermicularis infection may be variable by the selection of subjected cases. Above results mean that the spectrum of susceptible pinworms according to the developmental stages are different between currently available drugs, and the ability to remove pinworms completely in certain developmental stage are also different between chemotherapeutics. These results suggest the need of interval chemotherapy of Enterobius vermicularis infection in heavily infected cases of in highly endemic population to achieve the complete eradication of whole range of pinworms in intestine.
parasitology-helminth-nematoda ; Enterobius vermicularis ; chemotherapy- mebendazole ; pyrantel pamoate ; enterobiasis

To investigate the infection status of Enterobius vermicularis the author tried surveys by scotch-tape anal swap on school-children and household environmental factors considered to have influences on the infection were analyzed by an inquiry method with questionnaire. The survey was carried out in October 1986 and 1988 in urban and suburban areas and the results could summarized as follow: The egg positive rate in anal swab was 16.0 per cent (male 14.5 per cent, female 17.6 per cent) out of 2,156 school-children and higher in female group. The egg positive rate in suburban school-children (17.5 per cent out of 1,305 children of two primary school)was a little higher than that of urban school-children(13.6 per cent out of 851 children of one primary schools). The questionnaire analysis on environmental factors showed some significant relations between the egg positive rate and such factors as the number of brothers and sisters, householder's occupation, and avalibility of childroom or bathroom. The result indicate that, although enterobiasis in school-children has shown decreasing tendency in Korea, it is still considerably high in some urban and suburban areas.
parasitology-helminth-nematoda ; Enterobius vermicularis ; enterobiasis ; epidemiology

The Hongcheon river system flows down through the Hongcheon area of Kangwon-do, and reaches to the Cheongpyeong Dam in Kyonggi-do. Stool specimens from the inhabitants residing along the Hongcheon river basin were examined to detect infection rate of Metagonimus sp., and the intermediate hosts were collected to detect larval stages. The results obtained were as follows: Thirty-nine (33 males and 6 females) out of 529 (314 males and 215 females) inhabitants were infected with Metagonimus sp., showing a total positive rate of 7.4 per cent. In eight areas surveyed, the specimens from Kulji-ri of Bukbang-myon at the middle part of the river showed the highest positive rate of 26.9 per cent (14 positives out of 52) (males; 38.2per cent). The specimens from Mogog-ri of Seo-myon at the downstream of the river showed a positive rate of 10.4 per cent (13 positives out of 125) (males;12.6 per cent). The positive rates in other regions were less than 10 per cent. The density of the first intermediate host, Semisulcospira sp., was the highest in Kulji-ri of Bukbang-myon (10-20 snails per m(2)), and the infection rate of Metagonimus cercariae in the snails was 10.7 per cent(13 positives out of 121 snails). The infection rate of Metagonimus metacercariae in Zacco platypus, the fresh water fish favorably eaten raw by the inhabitants, was 68.2 per cent (30 positives out of 44 fishes), and most metacercariae were detected under the scales (89.9 per cent). Adult flukes were obtained from the small intestine of a rat, 15 days after infection with the metacercariae obtained from Z. platypus. These adult flukes were identified to be the same srecies as those obtained from human hosts. By this survey, new endemic areas of Metagonimus infection were discovered along the Hongcheon river basin and the main source of infection was the fresh water fish, Z. platypus.
parasitology-helminth-termatoda ; Metagonimus sp. ; epidemiology ; metacercaria ; Zacco platypus

A parasitological study was performed with 452 malaria patients evacuated from South Vietnam by examinations of their peripheral blood. Results were as follows: The peripheral blood examinations revealed that 52.0% of the examined have parasitemia, of which 95.3% was P. falciparum, one case of P. vivax and the other 10 patients were mixed infected. Neither P. malaria nor P. ovale were found. A total of 1,500 thick and thin blood films was prepared and 707 slides of them (47.1%) showed positive. In P. falciparum, ring forms were found most frequently and the next was gametocytes. Eighty slides (50%) showed mixed together with both ring form and gametocytes. All of the erythrocytic stages were seen in three slides of P. vivax. Weekly periodical examinations showed 233.8 parasite density every 1,000 W.B.C count in average, while occasional at fever attacks 531.7.Size of gametocytes in P. falciparum was 9.31(+/-0.89) by 2.16(+/-0.53) in macrogametocyte and 6.61(+/-0.82) by 2.51(+/-0.35) in microgametocyte. Their sex ratio was 100 : 92. Repeated blood examinations showed increased detection rates. The positive rate of parasitemia was 52.0% in single examination, increasing in succession with repetitions.
parasitology-protozoology-malaria ; Plasmodium falciparum ; Plasmodium vivax ; Plasmodium ovale ; Plasmodium malariae ; ring form gametocyte ; epidemiologyk Vietnam ; parasitemia

One hundred and two stray dogs in Ejungbu City of Kyunggi-Do, Korea were examined to reveal out the degree of natural helminthic infection of small intestine. Helminthes were collected at autopsy, by scraping the intestinal contents. The collected worms were classified by their morphological characteristics. Out of 102 examined, 72 dogs were infected with any helminthes. The common helminthes were Dipylidium caninum (47 percent), Ancylostoma caninum (26 percent), Toxascaris leonina (16 percent) and Toxocara canis (13 percent). Taenia pisiformis (9 percent), Echinostoma hortense (4 percent), E. cinetorchis (2 percent), Spirometra mansoni (2 percent) were also found. One dog was incidentally found to be infected with Clonorchis sinensis. The prevalence of Toxascaris leonina was relatively high in this study over Toxocara canis, and its significance was discussed. Dogs were firstly described as the reservoir hosts of Echinostoma hortense and E. cinetorchis in Korea.
parasitology-helminth-nematoda-trematoda ; cestoda ; dog ; epidemiology ; morphology ; Dipylidium caninum ; Ancylostoma caninum ; Toxascaris leonina ; Toxocara canis ; Taenia pisiformis ; Echinostoma hortense ; Echinostoma cinetorchis ; Spirometra mansoni ; reservoir host ; intermediate host

We investigated the influence of amniotic membrane application on corneal wound healing after excimer laser PRK in rabbits. PRK of -9.9D with the optical zone of 5.0mm was performed on each right eye of 34 pigmented rabbits and animals were divided into two groups. Preserved human amniotic membrane was applied in 17 eyes to cover the entire cornea for 48 hours(amniotic group) and the other eyes were used as control group. The area of epithelial defect, inflammatory cell infiltration, the number of anterior stromal keratocyte, and corneal haze were evaluated. The epithelium was healed completely within 3 days in all animals and there was no difference between two groups. At postoperative 12 and 24 hours, in amniotic group, the numbers of stromal inflammatory cells were significantly lower(p=0.009) and the numbers of anterior stromal keratocyte were significantly higher(p<0.05) than those in control group. At postoperative 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 weeks, the scores of corneal haze in amniotic group were lower than those in control group(p<0.05) and , at postoperative 12 weeks, the number of anterior stromal keratocyte in amniotic group was significantly lower than that in control group(p=0.002). The application of amniotic membrane after PRK reduces keratocyte proliferation and corneal haze during corneal wound healing process, possibly by reducing infiltration of inflammatory cells and loss of keratocyte in the ablation area during the early postoperative period.
Amnion* ; Animals ; Cornea ; Epithelium ; Humans* ; Lasers, Excimer* ; Photorefractive Keratectomy* ; Postoperative Period ; Rabbits ; Wound Healing* ; Wounds and Injuries*