• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.219-221
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• 2013

Reptiles, unlike mammals, have been considered to be unsuitable hosts of Trichinella spp., though larvae have been detected in their muscles and human outbreaks related to their consumption have, in fact, occurred. Herein we report 2 Korean cases of trichinosis, possibly transmitted via consumption of reptile meat. Both patients suffered from myalgia, headache, and facial edema. Laboratory examinations revealed leukocytosis with eosinophilia (54% and 39%, respectively) and elevated creatinine phosphokinase. ELISA was performed under the suspicion of trichinosis, showing positivity at the 29th and 60th day post-infection. Since they had consumed raw soft-shelled turtle meat, turtle was strongly suggested to be an infection source of trichinosis in Korea next to the wild boar and badger.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.405-408
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• 2011

Trichinosis is a food-borne zoonotic disease caused by the nematode, Trichinella spp., and had been reported several times in Korea. Recently, there was an additional outbreak, involving 5 patients, the findings from which are reported herein. On 30 November 2010, 8 persons ate sashimi of the meat of a wild boar. Then, 2-3 weeks later, they complained of myalgia and fever. Unfortunately, muscle biopsy was not performed, but ELISA was performed using their sera. Two people among 8 were positive for Trichinella on the 34th day post-infection (PI), and 3 patients who initially revealed negative ELISA were additionally proved to be positive for trichinosis on the 42nd day PI. Hence, the confirmed patients of trichinosis were 5 in total in the present outbreak. They were treated with albendazole and discharged uneventfully. This was the fifth outbreak of trichinosis in Korea.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.59 no.5
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• pp.497-499
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• 2021

Trichinellosis (trichinosis) is a parasitic infection caused by nematodes of the genus Trichinella. Pigs are the most common source of human infection. We describe a case of a 47-year-old woman presented with a wide range of intermittent symptoms including prolonged fever, dry cough, diarrhea, rash, myalgias and arthralgias. The patient was attended by physicians with various medical specialties such as dermatologists, rheumatologists and allergiologists, but they did not establish a certain diagnosis because of the gradual onset of symptoms, raising the suspicion of a systematic disease. After extensive work up, the diagnosis of trichinosis was established with femoral muscle biopsy compatible with inflammatory myopathy of parasitic etiology with trichinosis to be the predominant diagnosis. Despite the significant delay of diagnosis for almost three months, patient was treated successfully with no further complications. Trichinellosis is a food-borne treatable infection. Preventive measures include community education especially in zones where parasite prevalence is increased, improvement of farming and cooking techniques.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.339-343
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• 2012

The 5th outbreak of trichinosis occurred in a mountainous area of North Vietnam in 2012, involving 24 patients among 27 people who consumed raw pork together. Six of these patients visited several hospitals in Hanoi for treatment. Similar clinical symptoms appeared in these patients within 5-8 days after eating infected raw pork, which consisted of fever, muscle pain, difficult moving, edema, difficult swallowing, and difficult breathing. ELISA revealed all (6/6) positive reactions against Trichinella spiralis antigen and all cases showed positive biopsy results for Trichinella sp. larvae in the muscle. The larvae detected in the patients were identified as T. spiralis (Vietnamese strain) by the molecular analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit III (cox3) gene.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.297-304
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• 2013

Trichinosis is a parasitic zoonosis caused by the nematode Trichinella spiralis. Anthelmintics are used to eliminate intestinal adults as well as tissue-migrating and encysted larvae. This study aimed to investigate the effects of ivermectin and myrrh obtained from the aloe-gum resin of Commiphora molmol on experimental trichinosis. Ninety albino mice were orally infected with 300 T. spiralis larvae. Drugs were tested against adult worms at day 0 and day 5 and against encysted larvae on day 15 and day 35 post-infection (PI). Mature worms and encysted larvae were counted in addition to histopathological examination of muscle specimens. Serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total protein, albumin, globulin, urea, and creatinine values were estimated. Significant reductions in mean worm numbers were detected in ivermectin treated mice at day 0 and day 5 PI achieving efficacies of 98.5% and 80.0%, while efficacies of myrrh in treated mice were 80.7% and 51.5%, respectively. At days 15 and 35 post-infection, ivermectin induced significant reduction in encysted larval counts achieving efficacies of 76.5% and 54.0%, respectively, while myrrh efficacies were 76.6% and 35.0%, respectively. AST, ALT, urea, and creatinine levels were reduced, while total proteins were increased in response to both treatments compared to their values in the infected non-treated mice. Ivermectin use for controlling T. spiralis could be continued. Myrrh was effective and could be a promising drug against the Egyptian strains of T. spiralis with results nearly comparable to ivermectin.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.269-277
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• 2004

Trichinella spiralis is one of the important zoonotic parasites with a wide variety of vertebrates hosts in nature. The purpose of this study were to analyze ESP(Excretory-Secretory Protein) antigen, to evaluate ELISA for the serological diagnosis of Trichinosis, and to survey T. spiralis infection in finishing pigs using the pepsin digestion method and ELISA in Korea. In the analysis of ESP antigen by SDS-PAGE and Western blot, 4 major bands (70, 55, 52.6, and 49 kDa) were revealed from the ESP antigen. Predilection sites of T. spiralis were the diaphragm, the tongue, masseter muscles, intercostal muscle, and hindlimb in orders in the experimentally infected rats. Sera from 581 swine were tested by ELISA with ESP antigen. The 54 (9.3%) sera were suspected as positive reactors, however, these 54 sera were determined as false positives by the use of Western blotting. This study demonstrated that the ELISA was not suitable for the examination of T. spiralis in pork. The diaphragm muscle samples of 251 finishing pigs were tested by the method of pepsin-digestion for the presence of Trichinella larvae, however, T. spiralis was not detected from the samples. We could not find out T. spiralis infection in pig in Korea pork.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.257-263
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• 2021

Human gnathostomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by Gnathostoma nematode infection. A rapid, reliable, and practical immunoassay, named dot immuno-gold filtration assay (DIGFA), was developed to supporting clinical diagnosis of gnathostomiasis. The practical tool detected anti-Gnathostoma-specific IgG4 in human serum using crude extract of third-stage larvae as antigen. The result of the test was shown by anti-human IgG4 monoclonal antibody conjugated colloidal gold. The sensitivity and specificity of the test were both 100% for detection in human sera from patients with gnathostomiasis (13/13) and from healthy negative controls (50/50), respectively. Cross-reactivity with heterogonous serum samples from patients with other helminthiases ranged from 0 (trichinosis, paragonimiasis, clonorchiasis, schistosomiasis, and cysticercosis) to 25.0% (sparganosis), with an average of 6.3% (7/112). Moreover, specific IgG4 antibodies diminished at 6 months after treatment. This study showed that DIGFA for the detection of specific IgG4 in human sera could be a promising tool for the diagnosis of gnathostomiasis and useful for evaluating therapeutic effects.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.189-225
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• 2021

The use of albendazole and mebendazole, i.e., benzimidazole broad-spectrum anthelmintics, in treatment of parasitic infections, as well as cancers, is briefly reviewed. These drugs are known to block the microtubule systems of parasites and mammalian cells leading to inhibition of glucose uptake and transport and finally cell death. Eventually they exhibit ovicidal, larvicidal, and vermicidal effects on parasites, and tumoricidal effects on hosts. Albendazole and mebendazole are most frequently prescribed for treatment of intestinal nematode infections (ascariasis, hookworm infections, trichuriasis, strongyloidiasis, and enterobiasis) and can also be used for intestinal tapeworm infections (taeniases and hymenolepiasis). However, these drugs also exhibit considerable therapeutic effects against tissue nematode/cestode infections (visceral, ocular, neural, and cutaneous larva migrans, anisakiasis, trichinosis, hepatic and intestinal capillariasis, angiostrongyliasis, gnathostomiasis, gongylonemiasis, thelaziasis, dracunculiasis, cerebral and subcutaneous cysticercosis, and echinococcosis). Albendazole is also used for treatment of filarial infections (lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, loiasis, mansonellosis, and dirofilariasis) alone or in combination with other drugs, such as ivermectin or diethylcarbamazine. Albendazole was tried even for treatment of trematode (fascioliasis, clonorchiasis, opisthorchiasis, and intestinal fluke infections) and protozoan infections (giardiasis, vaginal trichomoniasis, cryptosporidiosis, and microsporidiosis). These drugs are generally safe with few side effects; however, when they are used for prolonged time (>14-28 days) or even only 1 time, liver toxicity and other side reactions may occur. In hookworms, Trichuris trichiura, possibly Ascaris lumbricoides, Wuchereria bancrofti, and Giardia sp., there are emerging issues of drug resistance. It is of particular note that albendazole and mebendazole have been repositioned as promising anti-cancer drugs. These drugs have been shown to be active in vitro and in vivo (animals) against liver, lung, ovary, prostate, colorectal, breast, head and neck cancers, and melanoma. Two clinical reports for albendazole and 2 case reports for mebendazole have revealed promising effects of these drugs in human patients having variable types of cancers. However, because of the toxicity of albendazole, for example, neutropenia due to myelosuppression, if high doses are used for a prolonged time, mebendazole is currently more popularly used than albendazole in anti-cancer clinical trials.

• 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.