High prevalence of Gymnophalloides seoi infection in a village in a village on a southwestern island of the Republic of Korea


Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 51(3), 281-285, 1994

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Abstract
Gymnophalloides seoi (Digenea: Gymnophallidae), a new human intestinal trematode reported from a Korean woman who complained of epigastric discomfort, has been shown to be highly prevalent among the villagers of a southwestern island of the Republic of Korea. For the detection of human infections, fecal examinations were conducted on the inhibitants of a seashore village, where the first patient with a G. seoi infection had resided. Of 98 inhabitants exmined, 70(71.4%) were infected with various intestinal parasites; among them, G. seoi showed the highest rate of egg positively 48 of 98 (49.0%). Individual worm burdens of G. seoi, as measured by collection of adult fluck after anthelmintic treatment and purgation, ranged rom 106 to 26,373 specimens (average per infected case = 3,326). There was no sex-related difference in the prevalence of G. Seoi, and the age distribution of the infected by G. seoi is not an incidental one and provides the first evidence of its high prevalence on this Korean island.