Parasites, Hosts and Diseases

The Korea Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (대한기생충학·열대의학회)
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Enterobius vermicularis Eggs Discovered in Coprolites from a Medieval Korean Mummy

  • Shin, Dong-Hoon (Department of Anatomy, Seoul National University College of Medicine) ;
  • Oh, Chang-Seok (Department of Anatomy, Seoul National University College of Medicine) ;
  • Chai, Jong-Yil (Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, and Institute of Endemic Diseases, Seoul National University Medical Research Center) ;
  • Lee, Hye-Jung (Department of Parasitology and Research Center for Mummy, College of Medicine, Dankook University) ;
  • Seo, Min (Department of Parasitology and Research Center for Mummy, College of Medicine, Dankook University)
  • Received : 2011.07.05
  • Accepted : 2011.08.08
  • Published : 2011.09.30
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Abstract

While the presence of pinworm eggs in archaeological samples has been reported by many researchers in the New World, those have been detected very scarcely in the Old World, especially in East Asian countries. In fact, many parasite species were recovered from the archeological remains in Korea, eggs of Enterobius vermicularis had not been found. Recently, a female mummy buried in the 17th century was discovered in the Joseon tomb from Dangjin-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea. After rehydration process for 12 days, investigations were carried on the luminal surface of the colon. From them, 3 eggs of E. vermicularis were recovered. They were elliptical, transparent with a thin egg shell, $50.3{\pm}5.2\;{\mu}m$ (length) and $28.2{\pm}3.9\;{\mu}m$ (width) in size. This is the first discovery of E. vermicularis eggs in East Asia.

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References

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