Studies on Intestinal Trematodes in Korea 1. A Human Case of Echinostoma cinetorchis Infection with an epidemiological Investigation

Abstract

A case of human infection with Echinostoma cinetorchis was found firstly in Korea on Feb-ruary 1978. The patient was a 60-year old house-wife residing in Hwasung Gun, Kyunggi, Do and suffered from intermittent abdominal pain for about one year. Stool examination revealed positive for echinostomatid eggs three times consistently during about 1 year. Eight worms were collected after bithionol treatment with cathartics. Collected worms had distinct head collar with 36 spines, and revealed marked variation in number and size of testes. So· they were identified as E. cinetorchis. Although an intermediate host study was made to investigate the source of infection of E. cinetorchis, not a relevant finding to the human case was obtained. Some of the loaches, Misgurnus anguillicaudatus had echinostomatid meta cercariae but one adult worm, obtained successfully from animal experiment, was identified as Echinostoma hortense. The echinostomatid eggs have been sometimesfound from Koreans, so close observation and tracing of the positive cases would be helpful to understand further details of human echinostomiasis in Korea.