• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.281-286
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• 2012

Helminthic infections afflict over 1.5 billion people worldwide, while Mycobacterium tuberculosis infects one third of the world's population, resulting in 2 million deaths per year. Although tuberculosis and helminthic infections coexist in many parts of the world, and it has been demonstrated that the T-helper 2 and T-regulatory cell responses elicited by helminths can affect the ability of the host to control mycobacterial infection, it is still unclear whether helminth infections in fact affect tuberculosis disease. In this review article, current progress in the knowledge about the immunomodulation induced by helminths to diminish the protective immune responses to bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccination is reviewed, and the knowledge about the types of immune responses modulated by helminths and the consequences for tuberculosis are summarized. In addition, recent data supporting the significant reduction of both M. tuberculosis antigen-specific Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR9 expression, and pro-inflammatory cytokine responses to TLR2 and TLR9 ligands in individuals with M. tuberculosis and helminth co-infection were discussed. This examination will allow to improve understanding of the immune responses to mycobacterial infection and also be of great relevance in combating human tuberculosis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2014

The prevalence of helminthic infections was surveyed on a total of 6,178 residents (males 2,549 and females 3,629) in 102 villages of 9 provinces in Lao PDR between 2007 and 2011 under the project of Korea-Laos Collaborative Project for Control of Foodborne Trematode Infections in Lao PDR. Fecal specimens were collected and examined by the Kato-Katz thick smear and Stoll's egg counting techniques. The overall liver/intestinal helminth egg positive rate was 71.9% with a single or mixed infections with Opisthorchis viverrini and minute intestinal flukes (Ov/MIF), Ascaris lumbricoides, hookworms, Trichuris trichiura, Trichostrongylus sp., echinostomes, Taenia spp., and others. Ov/MIF revealed the highest prevalence (55.6%) followed by hookworms (27.8%) and T. trichiura (6.5%). The endemic regions with the highest prevalence of Ov/MIF were Savannakhet, Khammouane, Vientiane (Nam Ngum), Champasak (Khong Island), and Saravane Province. High prevalences of A. lumbricoides (33.8%), hookworms (47.8%), and T. trichiura (32.6%) were observed in Phongsaly, Luang Prabang, and Vientiane (Nam Ngum) areas, respectively. The results of this study highlight helminth parasites of current public health significance in different areas of Lao PDR.

• Annals of Geriatric Medicine and Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.200-203
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• 2018

Strongyloides stercoralis is an intestinal nematode that occurs sporadically in temperate areas like Korea. People who are in the immunosuppressed state, over the age of 65 or under the corticosteroid therapy are at risk for developing Strongyloides hyperinfection syndrome. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with alveolar hemorrhage is a rare presentation of Strongyloides hyperinfection. A 78-year-old man had been irregularly injected corticosteroid on his knees, but did not have any immunosuppressive disease. He was initially diagnosed with ARDS and septic shock. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid was bloody and its cytology revealed helminthic larvae identified as S. stercoralis. Results of Cytomegalovirus polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Pneumocystis jirovecii PCR, and Aspergillus antigen testing of the BAL fluid were positive. The clinical progress quickly deteriorated with multiple organ failure, shock and arrhythmia, so he finally died. This is a rare case of ARDS in an older patient without any known immunosuppressive conditions, with alveolar hemorrhage and S. stercoralis being found via BAL.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.275-285
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• 1998

Antibody responses(IgG) to Paragonimus westermani. Clonorchis sinensis, Cysticercus cellulosae, Sparganum Anisakis simplex, Toxocara canis and Trichinella spiralis were studied. The ELISA technique was performed to determine the prevalence of above helminthic diseases. 975 cases obtained from Yanbian of China during October, 1995 to July, 1997 were examined with a positive antibody titer of 5.74% in clonorchiasis, 4.92% in paragonimiasis, 1.54% in cysticercosis. 8.51% in sparganosis, 1.85% in anisakiosis, 12.51% in toxocariasis, and 7.08% in trichinosis respectively. And 23.87% in showed positive antibody titer at least one of the seven helminths. The differences of the age and sex in the positive sera were analysed by the Chi-squared test and the level of significance accepted was p<0.05. The significant differences in positive antibody production were P.W.(p<0.01). C.S.(p<0.01), A.S.(p<0.05). T.C.(p<0.001), and T.S.(p<0.01) respectively in age groups. sparganosis(p<0.05) in sex groups. Other parasites showed that there were no significant differences among age groups and sex groups(males and females). Higher positive antibody rate of C.S. and P.W. occured in the 50-59 years old and those of T.C. and T.S. happened in the 20-29 years old. Patients of internal disease showed more positive antibody titer, that is to say, there was significant difference between positive rate of internal diseases and that of control (p<0.01. p<0.05) in 6 helminths except cysticercosis. The result showed that some cross reactions existed among nematodes, and the developed techniques(EITB) should be done for a correct diagnosis. Also the prevalence of some important helminths may be evaluated from the result and it would be a basic data for controlling parasitic diseases in Yanbian.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.651-656
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• 2013

Human schistosomiasis caused by Schistosoma japonicum and Schistosoma mekongi is a chronic and debilitating helminthic disease still prevalent in several countries of Asia. Due to morphological similarities of cercariae and eggs of these 2 species, microscopic differentiation is difficult. High resolution melting (HRM) real-time PCR is developed as an alternative tool for the detection and differentiation of these 2 species. A primer pair was designed for targeting the 18S ribosomal RNA gene to generate PCR products of 156 base pairs for both species. The melting points of S. japonicum and S. mekongi PCR products were $84.5{\pm}0.07^{\circ}C$ and $85.7{\pm}0.07^{\circ}C$, respectively. The method permits amplification from a single cercaria or an egg. The HRM real-time PCR is a rapid and simple tool for differentiation of S. japonicum and S. mekongi in the intermediate and final hosts.

• CELLMED
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.9.1-9.4
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• 2019

Ayurveda is one of the ancient systems of traditional medicine in India, however, there is a lack of proper scientific research and controlled studies on efficacy and toxicity of several Ayurvedic formulations using the methods of modern science, which hinders the proper development of Ayurveda, both in India and abroad. The present study was undertaken to further corroborate the efficacy of some popular anthelmintic Ayurvedic medicines, as evident by the pharmacological effects of Ayurvedic formulations on body surface of a cestode parasite. This study employed a common intestinal cestode of domestic fowl, Raillietina sp., as a model parasite, that was exposed in vitro to different concentrations of three common Indian Ayurvedic anthelmintic drugs, namely Krimimudgar Ras, Kriminol and Vidangasava, and also to a modern anthelmintic drug, praziquantel (PZQ). After the paralysis of parasites, the specimens from the highest drug-treated concentration (50 mg/ml), praziquantel (1 mg/ml), and control groups, were collected and processed for scanning electron microscopic studies to document the effects of drugs on the body surface of parasite. In this study, maximum degree of alterations on parasite body surface was observed in the worms exposed to Krimimudgar Ras, indicating this drug to be highly efficacious against intestinal worms and brings out a transtegumental mode of action on parasite. In conclusion, the findings of present study suggest that of the three Ayurvedic formulations tested, Krimimudgar Ras possesses significant anthelmintic effects, which are mediated through parasite's body surface. Therefore, Krimimudgar Ras may be considered as a reliable anthelmintic Ayurvedic formulation, as validated through this study.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.423-427
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• 2019

Coenurosis is an important zoonotic helminthic disease caused by the larval stage of the tapeworm Taenia multiceps. This parasite typically infects the brain of the intermediate hosts, including sheep, goat, cattle and even humans. We report a case of T. multiceps infection in a yak confirmed by clinical symptoms, morphological characteristics, and molecular and phylogenetic analyses. The coenurus was thin-walled, whitish, and spherical in shape with a diameter of 10 cm. The parasite species was identified as T. multiceps by PCR amplification and sequencing of the 18S rRNA, cox1 and nad1 genes. Three gene sequences all showed high homology (all above 97%) with the reference sequences from different hosts. Moreover, phylogenetic reconstructions with the 3 published Taenia gene sequences confirmed that the Qinghai yak isolate was closely related to T. multiceps. Although there are advanced diagnosis and treatment methods for coenurosis, early infection is difficult to diagnose. Importantly, the findings of yak infection case should not be ignored due to its zoonotic potential.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 2022

Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) caused by infection with E. multilocularis metacestode, represents one of the most fatal helminthic diseases. AE is principally manifested with infiltrative, proliferating hepatic mass, resembling primary hepatocellular carcinoma. Sometimes metastatic lesions are found in nearby or remote tissue. AE diagnosis largely depends on imaging studies, but atypical findings of imaging features frequently require differential diagnosis from other hepatic lesions. Serological tests may provide further evidence, while obtaining reliable AE materials is not easy. In this study, alternative antigens, specific to AE were identified by analyzing E. granulosus protoscolex proteins. An immunoblot analysis of E. granulosus protoscolex showed that a group of low-molecular-weight proteins in the range from 14 kDa to 16 kDa exhibited a sensitive and specific immune response to AE patient sera. Partial purification and proteomic analysis indicated that this protein group contained myosin, tubulin polymerization promoting protein, fatty-acid binding protein, uncharacterized DM9, heat shock protein 90 cochaperone tebp P-23, and antigen S. When the serological applicability of recombinant forms of these proteins was assessed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, DM9 protein (rEgDM9) showed 90.1% sensitivity (73/81 sera tested) and 94.5% specificity (172/181 sera tested), respectively. rEgDM9 showed weak cross-reactions with patient sera from the transitional and chronic stages of cystic echinococcosis (3 to 5 stages). rEgDM9 would serve as a useful alternative antigen for serodiagnosis of both early- and advanced-stage AE cases.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.94-101
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• 1987

Enterobiasis is common helminthic infections found in man. But control of this disease is still troublesome because of its difficulty in the d diagnosis and prevention of infection. Considering the difficulty of accurate diagnosis of pinworm infection, which is very common and somewhat pathogenic, reevaluation of cellotape anal swab method for the diagnosis of enterobiasis was performed. A total of 147 children ranging the ages of 1-12 years in 3 orphanages in the suburbs of Seoul, Korea was subjected for this study. Repeated cellotape anal swabs were carried out against 70 children, 7 times for 3 days interval, in the morning 6am. Finally 10 mg/kg body weight pyrantel pamoates were given to all children including egg negative cases and whole stools of 3 following successive days were collected for the confirmation of residual worm ourden at the time of treatment. Cellotape anal swabs were also performed to another 77 children at 6am, 3pm, 9pm, twice for 3 days interval. The resultant findings were summarized as follows; 1) While the each time average detection rate of Enterobius egg was 28.8% in this study group, the accumulative detection rate up to 7th examination was 62.8%. The accumulative detection rate rose continuously up to 6th examination. 2) After administration of pyrantel pamoate 10 mg/kg body weight, final infection rate was increased to 72.9% by adding worm positive cases who didn't show any evidence of infection in the cellotape anal swabs. 3) Although pinworms were detected in 35 among 70 children treated, 7 cases (20%) of them were egg negative cases in 7 consecutive cellotape anal swabs. 4) Pinworms were expelleded in 14 (87.5%) among 16 children whose swab result was positive in the last examination which was done concurrently with drug administration. 5) Estimated infection rate calculated by best asymptotically normal estimate of Neuman from Moriya's modification revealed 71.5% similar to 72.9% of present results. 6) The result of anal swab performed at 6am was higher than that of 3pm or 8pm. In conclusion, cellotape anal swab method for Enterobius vermicularis infection was considered as method having relatively high positive accuracy. However to gain the reliable infection rate, at least 6 examination is required in the group with 25-30% infection rate by single swab. Moriya's modification of Neuman could be used efficiently in the mass control of this diease for the estimation of true infection rate of E. vermicularis in the sampled population.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.77-82
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• 2020

Ascariasis is the most common helminthic infection in humans. However, its prevalence has been very low in Korea since the 1990s. Recently, there have been several case reports on intestinal obstruction or pancreaticobiliary disease due to infection with Ascaris lumbricoides in adults. However, cases of ascariasis in children have rarely been reported in Korea. We report a case of ascariasis in a 2-year-old boy who experienced expulsion of an adult ascaris worm from his anus. His mother found the worm in his diaper in the morning. His medical history was nonsignificant for any previous illnesses. There were no specific symptoms, and no abnormal findings were found on physical examination. The worm was pink, elongated, and cylindrical; it was 25 cm long and 5 mm wide. Unfertilized eggs of A. lumbricoides were detected in his stool specimen. He was treated with albendazole and remained asymptomatic at follow-up. As long as the number of immigrants from endemic areas and people returning from overseas trips, and import of agricultural products keep increasing, ascariasis can still occur in Korea. Therefore, it is necessary to raise awareness regarding ascariasis.