Distribution of medically important freshwater snails and larval trematodes from Parafossarulus manchouricus and Semisulcospira libertina around the Jinyang Lake in Kyongsang-Nam-Do, Korea

경상남도 남강유역의 의용패류 분포 및 흡충류 유충 감염실태 조사

The Jinyang Lake is dammed up Nam River, and surrounded by Jinju city and four counties; Jinyang, Sanchong, Hading, and Sachon in kyongsang-Nam-Bo, Korea. The areas around this man-made lake have been known as an endemic focus of clonorchiasis in Korea. The present study was first aimed to know the distribution of freshwater mollusks including medically important snails, and larval trematodes shed from Parafossarulus manchouricus and Semisulcospira libertina. In addition to above studies, water analyses in each snail habitat were carried out in order to figure out a part of their environmental factors. This malaco-ecological survey was done at the sirs areas around upper, middle and lower parts of the lake for 4 months, August-November, 1983. Total nine species of freshwater mollusks were collected throughout the study: 4 species of gastropods: Semisulcospira libertina, Cipangopaludina chinensis, Parafossarulus manchouricus and Radin auricularia, and 5 species of bit.alves; Unio dcuglasiae, Ancdonta woodiana, Lamprotula gottschei, Corbicula yuminea and Limncperma lucustris. Out of nine species of freshwater mollusks, three species of gastropods; S. Zibertina, p. manchouricus and R. auricularia were medically important in terms of the transmission of digenetic trematodes to humans. P. manchouricus and R. auricularia were mainly collected from the shallow ponds and the irrigation channels with the muddy basin, but S. libertine and the bivalves were only collected from the stream of Nam River where the gravels and rocks were dominant. The levels of dissolved oxygen (D.O.) and biochemical oxygen demand \(B.O.D._5)\ of the water specimens sampled from the study areas ranged from 6.0 to 9.6 ppm and from 0.4 to 1.6 ppm respectively. As a result, it is considered that water system around the Jinyang Lake might be relatively clean without any heavy pollution of aquatic microorganisms and organic materials during the period of this study. On the other hand, eight metalic constituents from the water samples were also assayed, and all metalic ions detected were remarkably low below the legal criteria. However, calcium ion in the water samples from the habitats of P. manchouricus was considerably higher than others. Infection rates of digenetic trematodes in the snails were 6.9% in P. manchouricus and 4.8% in S. libertine, respectively. P. manchouricus snails harboring with thc cercariae of Clonorchis sinensis were only 0.14% among the snails examined, and other trematode cercariae except cercaria of C. sinensis were: furcocercus cercariae, cercaria of Loxogenes liberum type I and II. S. libertine snails parasitized with the cercariae of Metagonimus yokogawai were 1, 5% out of the snails examined, and no cercaria of Paragonimus westermani was found in S. libertine snails in the present study. Digenetic trematode cercariae other than M. yokogawai observed in S. libertina snails were: Cercaria yoshidae (B type) , Cercaria cristata, Cercaria innominatum, Cercaria of Centrocestus formosanus and Cercaria nipponensis.