Infections with gastrointestinal parasitic helminths indigenous to Japan and their treatment historically studied in an attempt to control the diseases in countries where they are still rampant: (1) the Jomon to Edo periods.
Infections with gastrointestinal parasitic helminthes were historically surveyed from the Jomon period to the end of the Edo period in Japan. The parasitic helminthes whose eggs or symptoms were shown in the remains and bibliographies are the roundworm, whipworm, liver fluke, Yokogawa's fluke and the cestode, Diphyllobothrium sp. The first two are soil-transmitted nematodes and the other three parasitic helminths are those with which people are infected following eating raw fish. The infection routes provide valuable information on the environments, life-style and customs in those days. The eggs of the soil-transmitted parasites have the thick shells resistant to the environments. Humans are infected with the parasites after the eggs are orally ingested with soil, dust, vegetables grown with night soil or manure. When the custom of the night soil was started in the history of Japan was discussed with this infection route. In ancient times, feces are thought to have been discarded. In the Medieval Period, they were started to be used as a fertilizer. No mature types of manure were used until the modern times (already in the Edo period). To our idea, no recoveries of eggs of hookworms causing severe anemia do not necessarily mean that people were not infected with the parasites in those days because the eggs are covered with thin shells liable to rupture. The latter fact of the eggs of the platihelminths, C. sinensis, M. yokogawai and D. latum has something to do with Japanese traditional eating customs, unequivocally demonstrating that they ate raw fish from the Nara Period, at latest, until today. Whether eggs of the cestode (D. latum) are found in Jomon remains, Momijiyama Iseki, Hokkaido should be investigated. If no eggs of the cestode are found in their toilet site or elsewhere, it could be concluded that they did not have the custom of eating raw salmon. Such a conclusion would be itself a new fact. One of the effective treatments for the cestode (D. latum) sometimes still carried out in the 21st century in Japan, is binding worms from the anus using chopsticks. This method can be traced back to the Edo period as far as this investigation is concerned. Though the historical studies on anthelmintics are in progress, there seem to be no effective anthelmintics leaving nothing to be desired to the present authors' knowledge.
Department of Infectious Diseases, Matsuyama University School of Clinical Pharmacy, 4-2 Bunkyo-cho, Ehime 790-8578.
Jun
J
Maki
Hiroshi
H
Sakagami
Masahiro
M
Kuwada
Armando
A
Caceres
Hiroshi
H
Sekiya
Eiji
E
Tamai
D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000266:history*; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000266:history*; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan