The People's Republic of China has a large number of animal parasites transmitted through the ingestion of food products. Approximately 20 species of parasites in animals and man are reported from most of the provinces and autonomous regions of the country. The major food-borne parasitic zoonoses are reported from pigs, cattle, fish, crabs and crayfish, snails, frogs, snakes, and aquatic plants...

BACKGROUND Tapeworms of the genus Spirometra include species whose larval stages can infect humans, causing a disease called sparganosis. Cases of human infection with adult worms are very rare and have been reported in Korea and China. Here we report the first case of human infection with an adult of Spirometra erinaceieuropaei in Vietnam. CASE PRESENTATION A 23-year-old male was admitted to...

A 29-year-old farmer from central China was sent into the Emergency Department of the Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. He had a 15-day history of persistent high fever, abdominal distention and pain. The patient was clinically diagnosed as appendicitis and peritonitis, and treated with antibiotics in a local hospital, did not improve. On exploratory laparotomy, the appendicular perf...

Parasitic disease is still important subject in the field of infectious diseases in Korea considering it's number and morbidity. Recently there was conspicuous reduction of parasitic disease in terms of soil-transmitted nematodiasis, but parasitism affecting organs other than intestinal tract is still a considerable problem. This survey covers the parasitic diseases cross-sectioned at a patholo...

The present study was performed to compare the mitochondrial genomes between 2 Spirometra tapeworms, Spirometra erinaceieuropaei and Spirometra decipiens (Cestoidea: Diphyllobothriidae), which larval stages are important etiological agents of sparganosis in humans. For each species, the full mitochondrial genome was amplified in 8 overlapping fragments using total genomic DNA purified from a si...

After infection of male mice with the plerocercoids (spargana) of Spirometra mansoni, serum levels of estrogen and testicular weight were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and weighing machine, respectively. The serum level of estrogen increased progressively in infected mice compared with normal controls, whereas the testicular weight of infected mice decreased significantl...