Gymnophalloides seoi eggs from the stool of a 17th century female mummy found in Hadong, Republic of Korea.
It was previously reported that paleoparasitological clues for parasites infecting humans could be found in the feces of mummies of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) in the Republic of Korea. Here, we report the presence of trematode eggs, including Clonorchis sinensis, Metagonimus yokogawai, and Gymnophalloides seoi (a human parasite known in Korea since 1993) in the feces of a recently excavated female mummy in Hadong, Republic of Korea. This is the first report of the discovery of a G. seoi infection in a human mummy. Since Hadong is currently not an endemic area for G. seoi, we speculate that the parasite might have occurred frequently along coastal areas of the Korean peninsula several hundred years ago and that the endemic areas contracted to, more or less, restricted regions since that time.
Seo
Min
M
Department of Parasitology, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Chonan 330-714, South Korea.
Shin
Dong Hoon
DH
Guk
Sang-Mee
SM
Oh
Chang Seok
CS
Lee
Eun-Joo
EJ
Shin
Myung Ho
MH
Kim
Myeung Ju
MJ
Lee
Soong Deok
SD
Kim
Yi-Suk
YS
Yi
Yang Su
YS
Spigelman
Mark
M
Chai
Jong-Yil
JY
D000818:Animals; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D049670:History, 17th Century; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D009106:Mummies / Q000469:parasitology*; D010125:Ostreidae / Q000469:parasitology; D014200:Trematoda / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014201:Trematode Infections / Q000266:history* / Q000469:parasitology