A 38-year-old Japanese man presented with a 2-year history of cerebellar ataxia, fever, and headaches. MRI revealed migration of the lesion (figure, A–C). CSF cytology showed eosinophilic meningitis (figure, D); serum and CSF ELISA were positive for Spirometra erinaceieuropaei. Human sparganosis is a rare parasitic infection by the larval cestode of Spirometra that results from ingesting the pl...

To know the status of sparganum (plerocercoid of Spirometra erinacei) infection in the Korean wild life, several species of wild animals were captured in Gangwon-do and examined for their status of infection with spargana. From February to December 2011, a total of 62 wild boars, 5 badgers, 1 weasel, 1 Siberian chipmunk, and 53 wild rodents were captured, and their whole muscles were examined w...

Human sparganosis is a zoonotic disease caused by infection with larval forms (procercoid/plerocercoid) of Spirometra spp. The purpose of this study was to identify Spirometra spp. of infected snakes using a multiplex PCR assay and phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data from the spargana of terrestrial snakes obtained from Korea and China. A total of 283 snakes were obtained t...

Gastrointestinal zoonotic helminths of dogs and cats have a public health concern worldwide. We investigated the prevalence of gastrointestinal helminths of zoonotic significance in dogs and cats in lower Northern Thailand and utilized molecular tools for species identification of hookworms and Opisthorchis viverrini. Fecal samples of 197 dogs and 180 cats were collected. Overall prevalence of ...

A 52-year-old woman presented with lower back pain, progressive symmetrical paraparesis with sensory impairment, and sphincter disturbance. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the whole spine revealed multiple intradural extramedullary serpiginous-mass lesions in the subarachnoid space continuously from the prepontine to the anterior part of the medulla oblongata levels, C7, T2-T8, and T12 vert...

The author reported previously on separation of the outer tegument of the spargana (plerocercoids of Spirometra mansoni) using high concentration of urea solution. To determine which layer of the tegument is separated by this method, an electron microscopic analysis has been processed in this study. It was confirmed that the basement layer of the tegument is separated from the parenchyme of the...

Sparganosis is a parasitic disease in humans and animals caused by plerocercoid larvae (spargana) of the genus Spirometra. Spirometra erinaceieuropaei is the major causative agent of the disease in Asian countries. However, molecular evidence of the causative parasite species in animals remains lacking. A total of 19 spargana specimens were obtained from frogs, Hoplobatrachus rugulosus, collect...

Sparganosis is a parasitic disease in humans and animals caused by plerocercoid larvae (spargana) of the genus Spirometra. Spirometra erinaceieuropaei is the major causative agent of the disease in Asian countries. However, molecular evidence of the causative parasite species in animals remains lacking. A total of 19 spargana specimens were obtained from frogs, Hoplobatrachus rugulosus, collect...

The 27 kDa cathepsin L-like cysteine protease of Spirometra erinacei plerocercoid is known to play an important function in tissue penetration, nutrient uptake and immune modulation in human sparganosis. In the present study, the expression of this enzyme was examined at different developmental stages of S. erinacei including immature egg, coracidium, plerocercoid in tadpole and rat, and adult....

The mature domain of a cysteine protease of Spirometra erinacei plerocercoid larva (i.e., sparganum) was expressed in Escherichia coli, and its value as an antigen for the serodiagnosis of sparganosis was investigated. The recombinant protein (rSepCp-1) has the molecular weight of 23.4 kDa, and strongly reacted with the sparganum positive human or mice sera but not with negative sera by immunob...