• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• 제59권3호
• /
• pp.257-263
• /
• 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
• /
• 제51권4호
• /
• pp.467-470
• /
• 2013

The present study reports a human case of cutaneous gnathostomiasis with recurrent migratory nodule and persistent eosinophilia in China. A 52-year-old woman from Henan Province, central China, presented with recurrent migratory reddish swelling and subcutaneous nodule in the left upper arm and on the back for 3 months. Blood examination showed eosinophila (21.2%), and anti-sparganum antibodies were positive. Skin biopsy of the lesion and histopathological examinations revealed dermal infiltrates of eosinophils but did not show any parasites. Thus, the patient was first diagnosed as sparganosis; however, new migratory swellings occurred after treatment with praziquantel for 3 days. On further inquiring, she recalled having eaten undercooked eels and specific antibodies to the larvae of Gnathostoma spinigerum were detected. The patient was definitely diagnosed as cutaneous gnathostomiasis caused by Gnathostoma sp. and treated with albendazole (1,000 mg/day) for 15 days, and the subsequent papule and blister developed after the treatment. After 1 month, laboratory findings indicated a reduced eosinophil count (3.3%). At her final follow-up 18 months later, the patient had no further symptoms and anti-Gnathostoma antibodies became negative. Conclusively, the present study is the first report on a human case of cutaneous gnathostomiasis in Henan Province, China, based on the past history (eating undercooked eels), clinical manifestations (migratory subcutaneous nodule and persistent eosinophilia), and a serological finding (positive for specific anti-Gnathostoma antibodies).

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• 제50권1호
• /
• pp.73-78
• /
• 2012

We report a case of intraocular gnathostomiasis diagnosed by western blot assay in a patient with subretinal tracks. A 15-year-old male patient complained of blurred vision in the right eye, lasting for 2 weeks. Eight months earlier, he had traveled to Vietnam for 1 week and ate raw wild boar meat and lobster. His best-corrected visual acuity was 20/20 in both eyes and anterior chamber examination revealed no abnormalities. Fundus examination showed subretinal tracks in the right eye. Fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green angiography showed linear hyperfluorescence of the subretinal lesion observed on fundus in the right eye. Ultrasound examination revealed no abnormalities. Blood tests indicated mild eosinophilia (7.5%), and there was no abnormality found by systemic examinations. Two years later, the patient visited our department again for ophthalmologic evaluation. Visual acuity remained 20/20 in both eyes and the subretinal tracks in the right eye had not changed since the previous examination. Serologic examination was performed to provide a more accurate diagnosis, and the patient's serum reacted strongly to the $Gnathostoma$ $nipponicum$ antigen by western blot assay, which led to a diagnosis of intraocular gnathostomiasis. This is the first reported case of intraocular gnathostomiasis with subretinal tracks confirmed serologically using western blot in Korea.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• 제61권3호
• /
• pp.298-303
• /
• 2023

This study aimed to describe a rare case of gnathostomiasis in the vocal cord. A 54-yearold Chinese woman living in Korea visited with a chief complaint of voice change at the outpatient department of otorhinolaryngology in Hallym Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University on August 2, 2021. She had eaten raw conger a few weeks before the voice change developed, but her medical history and physical examinations demonstrated neither gastrointestinal symptoms nor other health problems. A round and red cystic lesion, recognized in the anterior part of the right vocal cord, was removed using forceps and scissors through laryngeal microsurgery. The histopathological specimen of the cyst revealed 3 cross-sections of a nematode larva in the lumen of the cyst wall composed of inflammatory cells and fibrotic tissues. They differ in diameter, from 190 ㎛ to 235 ㎛. They showed characteristic cuticular layers with tegumental spines, somatic muscle layers, and gastrointestinal tracts such as the esophagus and intestine. Notably, intestinal sections consisted of 27-28 lining cells containing 0-4 nuclei per cell. We tentatively identified the nematode larva recovered from the vocal cord cystic lesion as the thirdstage larva of Gnathostoma, probably G. nipponicum or G. hispidum, based on the sectional morphologies.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• 제31권2호
• /
• pp.169-172
• /
• 1993

Diagnostic specificity of 36 and 91 kDa proteins of Spirometra erlnacei plerocercold (sparganuml was evaluated by micro-ELISA In tissue Invading nematodiasls such as 25 gnathostomiasis, 33 angiostrongyllasls, 22 trichlnellosis patients, and 20 normal control. All but one patient each in 3 nematodlases showed the antibody levels of negative range. The positively reacted patients were regarded as concomitant Infections of sparganum because Immunized or hypennfected rabbit sennn of the nematodes did not react crossly to the antigen.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• 제56권3호
• /
• pp.215-227
• /
• 2018

Along with globalization of traveling and trading, fish-borne nematodiases seems to be increasing in number. However, apart from occasional and sporadic case reports or mini-reviews of particular diseases in particular countries, an overview of fish-borne nematodiasis among travelers have never been performed. In this review, we gathered fish-borne nematodiasis among travelers for recent 25 years by an extensive global literature survey using appropriate keywords, e.g. travelers diseases, human infection, anisakiasis, gnathostomiasis, capillariasis, sushi, sashimi, ceviche, Gnathostoma, Pseudoterranova, Anisakis, Capillaria, etc., as well as various combinations of these key words. The Internet search engines PubMed, Medline, Google and Googler Scholar were used as much as possible, and the references of every paper were checked in order to identify useful and reliable publications. The results showed unexpectedly high incidence of gnathostomiasis and low incidence of anisakidosis. The different incidence values of the infection with several fish-borne zoonotic nematode species are discussed, as well as some epidemiological aspects of the infections. The difficulties of differential diagnosis in non-endemic countries are emphasized. It is concluded that travelers must avoid risky behaviors which can lead to infection and that physicians and health authorities must advice travelers on the risks of eating behaviors during travel.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• 제51권3호
• /
• pp.343-347
• /
• 2013

Autochthonous human gnathostomiasis had never been reported in the Republic of Korea. We report here a case of Gnathostoma spinigerum infection in a 32-year-old Korean woman, presumed to have been infected via an indigenous route. The patient had experienced a painful migratory swelling near the left nasolabial fold area of the face for a year, with movement of the swelling to the mucosal area of the upper lip 2 weeks before surgical removal of the lesion. Histopathological examinations of the extracted tissue revealed inflammation with heavy eosinophilic infiltrations and sections of a nematode suggestive of a Gnathostoma sp. larva. The larva characteristically revealed about 25 intestinal cells with multiple (3-6) nuclei in each intestinal cell consistent with the 3rd-stage larva of G. spinigerum. The patient did not have any special history of travel abroad except a recent trip, 4 months before surgery, to China where she ate only cooked food. The patient is the first recorded autochthonous case of G. spinigerum infection in Korea.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• 제58권4호
• /
• pp.467-473
• /
• 2020

Chinese edible frogs, Hoplobatrachus rugulosus, were examined to estimate the potential risks of human gnathostomiasis and sparganosis in Myanmar. A total of 20 frogs were purchased in a local market of Yangon and examined with naked eyes and the artificial digestion method after skin peeling in June 2018 and June 2019. Larvae of gnathostomes and Spirometra (=spargana) were detected in 15 (75.0%) and 15 (75.0%) frogs with average intensities of 10.5 and 6.3 larvae per infected frog, respectively. Gnathostome larvae were 2.75-3.80 (av. 3.30) mm long and 0.29-0.36 (0.33) mm wide. They had a characteristic head bulb with 4 rows of hooklets, a muscular long esophagus, and 2 pairs of cervical sac. The mean number of hooklets were 41, 44, 47, and 50 on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th row, respectively. Collected spargana were actively moving, particularly with the scolex part, and have ivory-white color and variable in size. Conclusively, it has been first confirmed that Chinese edible frogs, H. rugulosus, are highly infected with larval gnathostomes and spargana in this study. Consuming these frogs is considered a potential risk of human gnathostomiasis and sparganosis in Myanmar.

• 한국건강관리협회지
• /
• 제2권1호
• /
• pp.77-83
• /
• 2004

Recently, peoples of travelling to endemic area of parasitit diseases are rapidly increased and the imported parasitic diseases by tourists have become a public health problem. Here author describess briefly about the imported parasitic in Korea. The 15 kinds of parasitic diseases, I.e., malaria, babesiosis, cutaneous leishmaniasis, visceral leishmaniasis, ancylostomiasis, cutaneous larva migrans, angiostrongylosis, gnathostomiasis,loiasis, heterophyiasis, urinary schistosomiasis, hydatis disease, pentastomiasis, cutaneous myiasis and syngamosis were imported during last thirty years. The most prevalent imported parasitic disease was malaria. Indigenous vivax malaria has been eradicated since 1970s. However imported malaria(1970~1985) was reported 107 cases of patient with a history of travel abroad. Futhermore a case of reemerging vivax malaria was patient were occurred in 2000.These parasitic disease are sometimes overlooked or misdiagnosed. There is a need to concern about travel medicine and imported parasitic diseases.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• 제26권1호
• /
• pp.33-38
• /
• 1988

서울에 있는 미군 병원에서 시행한 신경외과 수술에서 검출 의뢰된 충체를 유극악구충으로 동정하여, 국내에서 충체로 화인된 첫 증례로 보고한다. 환자는 젊은 태국인 여성으로 태국에 체재할 때부터 수막뇌염 증세를 앓았고, 뇌척수액에서는 수많은 호산구를 검출하였다. 등글게 말려서 고정된 충체는 길이가 12.3mm, 폭이 0.9mm이고 앞쪽 끝에 근 head bulb가 있었다. 이 기관의 표피에는 고양이 발톱모양의 피극이 8줄로 배열되어 있었다. 충체 전반부의 표피에는 수많은 피극이 가로로 열지어 있는데 head bulb 가까이 에서는 등근 기저부와 4분지의 끝이 있는 굵은 피극이 분포하나 점차 뒤쪽으로 3분지되고 2분지되면서 가늘고 걸어지는 피극으로 이행되었다. 중간부에서는 짧고 작은 가시모양의 피극이 관찰되고 그 수도 크게 감소하였고 후반부에서는 피극이 관찰되지 않았다. 길이 12.4mm의 식도와 두 개의 식도선(cervical sacs)이 있고, 장이 식도에서 항문까지 곧게 이어져 있었다. 장은 검고 불투명하며, 심하게 굴곡하는 고환과 겁쳐져서 관찰되었다. 뒤 끝에서는 작은 피극이 다시 나타나서 가로로 배열하였고 항문 주위에 Y형으로 피극이 없는 부분이 있었다. 끝의 복면·양쪽에 네 쌍의 큰 감각유두((pedunculated papillae)가 배열하였다. 이상의 소견은 enathostoma spinigerum 성충 수컷의 형태와 일치하였다. 따라서 이 증례는 태국에서 감염되어 국내로 유입된 수막뇌염이 유발된 유극악구충 증례로서, 국내에서는 처음으로 기록되는 것이라 하겠다.