High prevalence of Gymnophalloides seoi infection in a village on a southwestern island of the Republic of Korea.
Gymnophalloides seoi (Digenea: Gymnophallidae), a new human intestinal trematode reported from a Korean woman who complained of epigastric discomfort, has been shown to be highly prevalent among the villagers of a southwestern island of the Republic of Korea. For the detection of human infections, fecal examinations were conducted on the inhabitants of a seashore village, where the first patient with a G. seoi infection had resided. Of 98 inhabitants examined, 70 (71.4%) were infected with various intestinal parasites; among them, G. seoi showed the highest rate of egg positivity 48 of 98 (49.0%). Individual worm burdens of G. seoi, as measured by collection of adult flukes after anthelmintic treatment and purgation, ranged from 106 to 26,373 specimens (average per infected case = 3,326). There was no sex-related difference in the prevalence of G. seoi, and the age distribution of the infected cases showed a relatively even pattern. This study confirms that human infection by G. seoi is not an incidental one and provides the first evidence of its high prevalence on this Korean island.
Lee
S H
SH
Department of Parasitology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Republic of Korea.
Chai
J Y
JY
Lee
H J
HJ
Hong
S T
ST
Yu
J R
JR
Sohn
W M
WM
Kho
W G
WG
Choi
M H
MH
Lim
Y J
YJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010270:Parasite Egg Count; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014200:Trematoda / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014201:Trematode Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology