Paragonimiasis is an infection caused by lung flukes of the genus Paragonimus. In Asia, P. westermani infections are relatively common because of dietary practices. However, in North America, cases of paragonimiasis, which are caused by P. kellicotti flukes, are rare. Only 7 autochthonous cases of paragonimiasis were reported during 1968-2008. In 2009, we reported 3 new case-patients with parag...

Tumor development is a multifactorial process, influenced by both specific microbial signature. These findings will require verification in genetic and environmental pressures. A small number of chronic infectious agents have been designated carcinogenic, including viruses (hepatitis B, C and HPV), bacteria (Helicobacter pylori) and parasites (De Martel et al., 2012). Further, general microbial...

A total of 611 preserved adult Metagonimus spp. specimens recovered from 32 of 53 Japanese water shrews (Chimarrogale platycephala) that had previously been collected in Aomori Prefecture between June 1994 and August 1996, were examined in this study. Morphological examination revealed that 603 of these flukes were identical to M. hakubaensis Shimazu, 1999, and that the others were M. takahashi...

A small-scale epidemiological survey was undertaken during 1997-1998 on the residents along the Osib-chon (Stream), Samchok-shi (City), Kangwon-do (Province), to evaluate the status of Metagonimus yokogawai infection. A total of 165 fecal samples was collected and examined by cellophane thick smear and formalin-ether sedimentation techniques. The egg positive rate of M. yokogawai was 29.7%, sho...

Nucleotide sequences of ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) and mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase I (NDI) gene were analyzed to genetically characterize aspermic Fasciola forms in Korea. From the difference in ITS1 sequences, Korean flukes were divided into 3 haplotypes represented by Kor1, Kor2 and Kor1/2, which had nucleotides identical to F. hepatica, F. gigantica and those overlappe...

[Purpose, Case, and Methods] A female bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in captivity developed necrosis of the tail flukes. Although the diseased site healed after surgical resection, the loss of approximately 75% of the tail greatly affected her swimming performance. To restore swimming ability, we developed artificial tail flukes as a prosthetic swimming aid and provided physical therap...

Experimental infections of Lymnaea columella with Fasciola hepatica were carried out to test the effect of sympatric and allopatric combinations between parasite and host, by using snails and flukes from southern and south-eastern Brazil. Four groups of 50 snails were infected with four miracidia per snail: two groups in sympatric and two groups in allopatric combinations. Sympatric combination...

In Southeast Asia, a total of 59 species of foodborne intestinal flukes have been known to occur in humans. The largest group is the family Heterophyidae, which constitutes 22 species belonging to 9 genera (Centrocestus, Haplorchis, Heterophyes, Heterophyopsis, Metagonimus, Procerovum, Pygidiopsis, Stellantchasmus, and Stictodora). The next is the family Echinostomatidae, which includes 20 spec...

Seven laboratory mammal and bird species were orally inoculated with 200-1,000 encysted Metagonimus hakubaensis metacercariae that had been isolated from naturally infected lampreys (Lethenteron reissneri) captured in Aomori Prefecture. At 8 and 15 days post-infection, adult flukes were recovered from all of the laboratory animals tested, and therefore, hamster, rat, mouse, dog, cat, chicken an...