High Prevalence of Gymnophalloides Seoi Infection in a Village on a Southwestern Island of the Republic of Korea

Foodborne Intestinal Flukes in Southeast Asia

“…The eggs are very small, only 0.020-0.025 mm in length, smaller than those of Clonorchis sinensis, Metagonimus yokogawai, or other heterophyids, and have a very thin and transparent shell [148][149][150]. The size of G. seoi eggs is similar to that of P. summa [2].…”

“…Five days after a treatment with praziquantel, epigastric pain and diarrhea completely disappeared, and serum and urine amylase levels returned to their normal levels [148]. Most other patients complained of only mild gastrointestinal troubles, such as indigestion [149,150]. However, it is noteworthy that 2 patients were accompanied by diabetes mellitus with high glucose levels [324].…”

“…This gymnophallid fluke was first discovered from a Korean woman sufferring from acute pancreatitis and gastrointestinal discomforts in 1988 [148,149]. The home village of the patient was a southwestern coastal island named Aphaedo, Shinan-gun, which was subsequently found to be a highly endemic area [150]. To date, more than 25 villages on western and southern coastal islands [151][152][153][154][155] and 3 non-island coastal villages [156] were identified as endemic areas.…”

“…Variable degrees of gastrointestinal troubles and indigestion, together with fever, anorexia, weight loss, easy fatiguability, and weakness may occur in G. seoi-infected patients [149,150]. However, the degree of symptoms seems to be variable from individual patients [4].…”

Growth and development of Gymnophalloides seoi in immunocompetent and immunosuppressed C3H/HeN mice

“…Gymnophalloides seoi is a new intestinal fluke of humans contracted by eating raw oysters in Korea (Lee et al, 1993(Lee et al, , 1994(Lee et al, , 1995. Some of the infected people have suffered from acute pancreatitis and gastrointestinal troubles (Lee et al, 1993(Lee et al, , 1994.…”