A human case of Echinostoma cinetorchis infection was found in Seoul Paik Hospital on August 1987. Large trematode eggs, 98.9 x 62.7 micro-m in average size, were detected in stool examination. The eggs had a small-sized operculum and abopercular wrinkling. After treatment with praziquantel(single dose of 16.2 mg/kg) and purgation with magnesium citrate, an adult fluke was collected. It was 8.0 mm long, equipped with 37 collar spines around head crown, and had only one testis just behind the Mehlis' gland. It was identified as E. cinetorchis Ando et Ozaki, 1923. The patient is an 18-year old man residing in Seoul, and was hospitalized due to nephritis. He had eaten raw meat juice of fresh water fishes such as top minnows(Oryzias latipes) and loaches, or tadpoles, which are considered possible souce of this fluke infection. This is the 4th human case of E. cinetorchis infection in Korea.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; Echinostoma cinetorchis ; case report ; echinostomiasis

Echinostomatid eggs were found from a 21-year old man, whole native village is Munkyong-gun, Kyongsangnam-do during fecal examination in October 1983. The eggs were detected again one week later concommitantly with the eggs of Clonorchis sinensis. He had no subjective symptoms related with these fluke infections. He was treated with praziquantel(Distocide) 20 mg/kg in single dose and purgated with magnesium salt. One echinostomatid fluke and 4 adults of C. sinensis were collected from the diarrheal stools. After morphological observation, the echinostomatid fluke was identified as Echinostoma hortense Asada, 1926. This is the first record on human E. hortense infection in Korea.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; Echinostoma hortense ; case report ; echinostomiasis ; praziquantel

Fishborne trematode (FBT) metacercariae were investigated in yellowfin goby, Acanthogobius flavimanus, collected from Shinan-gun and Muan-gun, Jeollanam-do (province), Korea. All collected fishes were examined using the artificial digestion method. In all of 15 gobies from Aphae-myeon in Shinan-gun, metacercariae of Stictodora spp. (334 metacercariae/fish), Heterophyes nocens (153/fish), and Heterophyopsis continua (20/fish) were detected. In 2 of 14 gobies from Jido-myeon in Shinan-gun, 8 Echinostoma hortense metacercariae in total were detected. In 15 gobies from Haeje-myeon in Muan-gun, the metacercariae of H. continua were found in 100%, Stictodora spp. in 86.7%, and H. nocens in 6.7% of fish examined. The average numbers of metacercariae per infected fish were 23.3 (H. continua), 416.0 (Stictodora spp.), and 2.0 (H. nocens), respectively. The metacercariae of E. hortense found in gobies were elliptical, with 150 x 138 micrometer in average size, and had 27 collar spines on the head crown. The above results suggest that yellowfin gobies from 2 localities may be the potential infection sources of FBT. Moreover, it is proved for the first time that the yellowfin goby, A. flavimanus, acts as a second intermediate host for E. hortense.
Animals ; Disease Reservoirs/*parasitology ; Echinostomiasis/parasitology ; Humans ; Korea ; Perciformes/*parasitology ; Trematoda/*isolation & purification

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Although the overall infection rate of infection with parasites has decreased, the rate of food-mediated infection with parasites has not declined. This study was conducted to define the various endoscopic and clinical characteristics of gastrointestinal (GI) parasite infections diagnosed endoscopically. METHODS: We reviewed retrospectively the medical records including the endoscopic reports of 27 patients with GI parasite infections diagnosed endoscopically at University Hospital from January 1993 through September 2006. RESULTS: Among 27 patients with a GI parasite infection, 66.7% were female and food-mediated parasite infections including anisakiasis accounted for 77.8% of all of the infections. Soil-mediated parasites were still detected. Extremely rare cases of echinostomiasis and diphyllobothriasis were also identified. Abdominal pain was most frequent symptom (48.1%) and even intestinal or biliary obstructions were seen. The most common endoscopic finding was a visible worm, and various findings including the presence of a pseudotumor were observed. The median period from symptom onset to endoscopy was 15 days for anisakiasis with a pseudotumor compared to 1 day for anisakiasis without a pseudotumor. CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopy revealed the presence of various GI parasite infections as well as the presence of anisakiasis, a food-mediated parasitic disease. Various clinical and endoscopic features were seen, including GI bleeding, obstruction, and a pseudotumor. Therefore, a thorough endoscopic examination is required promptly together with detailed history taking concerning the consumption of raw fish.
Abdominal Pain ; Anisakiasis ; Diphyllobothriasis ; Echinostomiasis ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Parasites* ; Parasitic Diseases ; Retrospective Studies

Adult specimens of Echinostoma ilocanum (Garrison, 1908) Odhner, 1911 (Trematoda: Echinostomatidae) were recovered from 2 riparian people who resided along the Mekong River in Savannakhet Province, Lao PDR. In fecal examinations done by the Kato-Katz technique, they revealed echinostome eggs together with eggs of Opisthorchis viverrini (and minute intestinal fluke eggs) and hookworms. To recover the adult flukes, they were treated with praziquantel 30–40 mg/kg in a single dose and purged with magnesium salts. A total of 658 adult fluke specimens were recovered from the 2 people; 456 from case 1 and 202 from case 2. Specimens from case 1 consisted of 335 echinostomes (301 E. ilocanum and 34 species undetermined), 120 O. viverrini, and 1 Haplorchis taichui, and those from case 2 consisted of 36 E. ilocanum, 134 O. viverrini, and 32 H. taichui. Thus, the number of E. ilocanum specimens was 337 in total (average per person, 168.5). From this study, it is suggested that foodborne intestinal flukes and liver flukes are highly prevalent along the Mekong River in Savannakhet Province. The present report describes for the first time human infections with E. ilocanum in Lao PDR.
Adult ; Ancylostomatoidea ; Echinostoma ; Echinostomiasis ; Eggs ; Fasciola hepatica ; Humans ; Magnesium ; Opisthorchis ; Ovum ; Praziquantel ; Rivers ; Salts ; Trematoda

Echinostomiasis is an endemic parasitic infection of humans in Korea, especially eastern areas. An Echinostoma infection was diagnosed by gastroduodenoscopy from a 75-year-old Korean female living in Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do. She complained of nausea, vomiting and epigastric pain that had persisted for 1 month. Two live worms were attached to the mucosal surface of the duodenal bulb area. After they were removed using an endoscopic forceps, the symptoms were gradually relieved. The worms were identified as Echinostoma hortense by egg morphology, visceral locations and tegumental ultrastructures. Microscopic examination of endoscopic biopsy specimens revealed infiltration by chronic inflammatory cells. In this case, the source of the infection was the loaches purchased from local fish markets located at Hwasun-gun. This is the 5th case of E. hortense infection diagnosed by endoscopy and the 1st case reported in area of southwestern Korea.
Aged ; Biopsy ; Cypriniformes ; Duodenum ; Echinostoma* ; Echinostomiasis ; Endoscopy* ; Female ; Humans* ; Jeollanam-do ; Korea* ; Nausea ; Ovum ; Surgical Instruments ; Vomiting

Human cases of echinostomiasis have been sporadically diagnosed by extracting worms in the endoscopy in Korea and Japan. Most of these were caused by Echinostoma hortense infection. However, in the present study, we detected 2 live worms of Echinostoma cinetorchis in the ascending colon of a Korean man (68-year old) admitted to the Gyeongsang National University Hospital with complaint of intermittent right lower quadrant abdominal pain for 5 days. Under colonoscopy, 1 worm was found attached on the edematous and hyperemic mucosal surface of the proximal ascending colon and the other was detected on the mid-ascending colon. Both worms were removed from the mucosal surface with a grasping forceps, and morphologically identified as E. cinetorchis by the characteristic head crown with total 37 collar spines including 5 end-group ones on both sides, disappearance of testes, and eggs of 108x60 microm with abopercular wrinkles. The infection source of this case seems to be the raw frogs eaten 2 months ago. This is the first case of endoscopy-diagnosed E. cinetorchis infection in Korea.
Aged ; Animals ; Colon/*parasitology ; Colonoscopy ; Echinostoma/anatomy & histology/classification/*isolation & purification ; Echinostomiasis/*diagnosis/parasitology ; Humans ; Korea ; Male

A total of 1,498 small mammals (rodents and insectivores), including Apodemus agrarius (n = 1,366), Crocidura lasiura (54), Mus musculus (32), Micronytus fortis (28), Eothenomys regulus (9), Micronys minutes (6), and Cricetulus triton (3), were live-trapped in Gyeonggi-do (Province) (Paju-si, Pocheon-gun, and Yeoncheon-gun) near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) from December 2004 to September 2005. A. agrarius was found to be infected with 3 species of echinostomes (Echinostoma hortense, Echinostoma cinetorchis, and Euparyphium murinum), while C. lasiura was infected with 1 species (Echinochasmus japonicas) of echinostome. Other mammals were free from echinostome infections. Total 16 E. hortense were detected in 7 (0.5%) mice, 9 E. cinetorchis from 5 (0.4%), and 3 E. murinum from 2 (0.1%) out of 1.366 A. agrarius examined. E. japonicus was found only in 1 (1.9%; total 3 specimens) C. lasiura. These results demonstrate that A. agrarius and C. lasiura, inhabiting near the DMZ of Gyeonggi-do serve as the natural definitive hosts for several species of echinostomes, although their infection rates are low. This is the first record of natural infections of A. agrarius with E. cinetorchis and C. lasiura with E. japonicus in the Republic of Korea.
Animals ; Echinostoma/*isolation & purification ; Echinostomiasis/parasitology/*veterinary ; Humans ; Insectivora/*parasitology ; Korea ; Mice ; *Murinae/parasitology ; Rodent Diseases/*parasitology ; Rodentia ; Shrews/parasitology

Three freshwater snail species of the family Lymnaeidae have been reported from Korea, Radix auricularia coreana, Austropeplea ollula and Fossaria truncatula. Out of 3 lymnaeid snail species, A. ollula was naturally infected with the Echinostoma cinetorchis cercariae (infection rate = 0.7%). In the experiments with the laboratory-bred snails, F. truncatula as well as A. ollula was also susceptible to the E. cinetorchis miracidia with infection rates of 25% and 40%, respectively. All of three lymnaeid snail species exposed to the E. cinetorchis cercariae were infected with the E. cinetorchis metacercariae. It is evident that A. ollula acts as the first molluscan intermediate host of E. cinetorchis in Korea, and F. truncatula may be a possible candidate for the first intermediate host of this intestinal fluke. Also, three lymnaeid snail species targeted were experimentally infected with E. cinetorchis metacercariae.
Animals ; Echinostoma/pathogenicity/*physiology ; Echinostomiasis/parasitology ; Host-Parasite Relations ; Korea ; Lymnaea/*parasitology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

As gastroduodenoscopy performed more frequently, case reports of human echinostomiasis are increasing in Korea. A Korean woman presented at a local clinic with complaints of abdominal pain and discomfort that had persisted for 2 weeks. Under gastroduodenoscopy, two motile flukes were found attached on the duodenal bulb, and retrieved with endoscopic forceps. She had history of eating raw frog meat. The two flukes were identified as Echinostoma hortense by egg morphology, 27 collar spines with 4 end-group spines, and surface ultrastructural characters. This report may prove frogs to be a source of human echinostome infections.
Animals ; Duodenal Diseases/*parasitology ; Duodenum/*parasitology ; Echinostoma/*isolation & purification ; Echinostomiasis/*diagnosis ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Middle Aged