title: A human case of Plagiorchis vespertilionis (Digenea: Plagiorchiidae) infection in the Republic of Korea.
abstract: Plagiorchis vespertilionis (Digenea: Plagiorchiidae) is generally considered a bat parasite, but here it is reported for the first time in a human. The patient was a 34-yr-old male who lived in a coastal village of Haenam-gun (county), Jeollanam-do (province), Republic of Korea. Only 1 worm, 2.6 mm long and 0.7 mm wide, was recovered after praziquantel treatment and purging with magnesium salts. The fluke was characterized by a large body size, a sucker ratio of 1:1, a straight cirrus organ, a short distance between the ventral sucker and ovary, well-developed vitellaria, a uterus with descending and ascending loops, and fully developed eggs with an average size of 32.5 x 17.5 microm. The patient had habitually eaten the raw flesh of snakehead mullet and gobies that had been caught near his village. The present case represents the first record of a human P. vespertilionis infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: S-M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Guk
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J-H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: J-Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005399:Fishes / Q000469:parasitology; D016266:Food Parasitology; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D023701:Smegmamorpha / Q000469:parasitology; D014200:Trematoda / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014201:Trematode Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*