[An epidemiological survey on paragonimiasis in Jin Miaopu township in Shanxi province].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the epidemiological factors and tendency of paragonimiasis in Jin Miaopu township in Zezhou county of Shanxi Province, and to understand the current status of public awareness for providing references to paragonimiasis education and prevention.


METHODS
A questionnaire survey was conducted among 2172 villagers probing awareness of paragonimiasis and their experiences of eating crabs; Infection screening and antibody test were also performed by means of ELISA.


RESULTS
The paragonimiasis knowledge coverage rate was zero, and 67.7% (1471/2172) of the respondents claimed their histories of crab eating and 96.7% (29/30) of crabs were infected with metacercaria of paragonimus. Of all the study subjects, 11% (241/2172) of them were infected with the positive rate of 4.1% (89/270).


CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of paragonimiasis is closely related to dietetic habit in local residents. It is extremely necessary to increase the public awareness of paragonimiasis prevention and control and to improve the living conditions and dietetic habits.
Feng
Man-Ling
ML
Beijing Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Beijing Friendship Hospital Captial Medical University, Beijing 100050, China. manling166@yahoo.com.cn
Li
Shao-Gang
SG
Wu
Zhao-Yong
ZY
Yin
Cheng-Hong
CH
Zhang
Xiao-Jun
XJ
Zhai
Jian-Guo
JG
Chen
Jie
J
Han
Su-Fang
SF
Zhang
Xia-Xia
XX
Shang
Ya-Li
YL
Yan
Xiao-Chou
XC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004285:Dogs; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008174:Lung Diseases, Parasitic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010237:Paragonimiasis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires