• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.295-297
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• 1993

Pcrosonimr westermani is a lung fluke of humans that Is usually found in the lunes but may be fecund elsewhere in many unusual locations. A case of pelvic paragonimiasis was found incidentally by surgical intervention of inamatov disease and myoma uteri. She was a 51-year-old Korean woman complaining of lower abdominal pain and intermittent vaginal spotting. Numerous Porosonimus ova were observed in the reseated omentum in the pelvis after total abdominal hysterectomy. It is suggested that pelvic paragonimiasis may be one of causative agents of pelvic inflammatory disease.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.621-627
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• 2013

Paragonimiasis is a food-borne parasitic zoonosis caused by infection with lung flukes of the genus Paragonimus. In Vietnam, research on Paragonimus and paragonimiasis has been conducted in northern and central regions of the country. Using a combination of morphological and molecular methods, 7 Paragonimus species, namely P. heterotremus, P. westermani, P. skrjabini, P. vietnamensis, P. proliferus, P. bangkokenis, and P. harinasutai, have been identified in Vietnam. Of these, the first 3, P. heterotremus, P. westermani, and P. skrjabini, are known to infect humans in other countries. However, in Vietnam, only P. heterotremus, found in some northern provinces, has been shown to infect humans. Even nowadays, local people in some northern provinces, such as Lai Chau and Yen Bai, are still suffering from P. heterotremus infection. In some provinces of central Vietnam, the prevalence and infection intensity of P. westermani metacercariae in freshwater crabs (the second intermediate hosts) are extremely high, but human cases have not been reported. Likewise, although P. skrjabini was found in Thanh Hoa Province, its pathogenicity to humans in Vietnam still remains uncertain. The results of molecular phylogenetic analyses of Vietnamese Paragonimus species provides new insights on the phylogeny and taxonomy of the genus Paragonimus. Comprehensive molecular epidemiological and geobiological studies on the genus in Vietnam and adjacent countries are needed to clarify the biodiversity and public health significance of the lung flukes.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.73-77
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• 2011

Paragonimiasis is an infectious disease caused by trematodes of the genus Paragonimus. This trematode can be treated successfully with praziquantel in more than 90% of the cases. Although praziquantel is generally well tolerated, anaphylactic reactions to this drug have been reported in a few cases. We report here a 46-year-old Korean female with paragonimiasis, presumed to be due to Paragonimus westermani, who displayed an allergic reaction to praziquantel and resistance to triclabendazole treatment. The patient was successfully treated with praziquantel following a rapid desensitization procedure. Desensitization to praziquantel could be considered when no alternative drugs are available.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.25-28
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• 2020

The prevalence of pulmonary pargonimiasis in Korea has been steadily decreasing due to develop of the public health, and there have been few clinical cases of paragonimiasis infections, especially in pneumothorax. A 22-year-old man referred to emergency department for dyspnea and chest pain. The right lung was totally collapsed on a chest X-ray. We emergently performed a closed thoracostomy with a 28-Fr chest tube. However, the air leak from the chest tube persisted for three days after the closed thoracostomy. A chest computed tomography showed multiple subpleural consolidative nodular lesions and mixed ground-glass attenuation nodules. We potentially suspected a secondary pneumothorax resulting from pulmonary paragonimiasis infection because the patient was a Chinese man who was working at a Korean restaurant. We decided to perform a medical treatment instead of pulmonary wedge resections. The air leak was discontinued three days after the prescription of praziquantel. The patient was discharged nine days after the admission. We suggest that anti-parasitic drugs are very effective in the secondary pneumothorax resulting from paragonimiasis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.167-171
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• 2000

We report a chronic cerebral paragonimiasis from a 41-year-old Korean man who complains a headache and weakness of left motor neuron components. Magnetic resonance images of the brain revealed conglomerates of multiple ring-like enhancements in tempore-occipital and frontal lobes of the right hemisphere. An intradermal test for paragonimiasis westermani was positive. The patient was born near an endemic area of paragonimiasis and used to eat boiled or grilled freshwater crayfish in his childhood. Nodules in the brain were resected through craniotomies. The eggs of P. westemani were identified pathologically and parasitologically in the calcified necrotic lesions. Examinations on sputum and fecal specimens for the eggs of P. westemani were shown to be negative and a chest radiograph was normal. It is presumed that the brain lesions were formed by P. westemani approximately 30 years ago.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.75-84
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• 2000

Antibody responses in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients with active and chronic paragonimiasis and in sera from patients on whom follow-up studies were done after praziquantel treatment were analyzed using antigens of Paragonimus westermani prepared from eggs, metacercariae, juveniles of 4-and 7-week old, adult worms and recombinant protein of 28 kDa cruzipain-like cysteine protease (rPw28CCP). The patient sera/CSFs of active and chronic paragonimiasis revealed strong antibody reactions against the crude extracts of 4-and 7-week old juveniles as well as against those from egg and adult. rPw28CCP also showed specific reaction to the sera with active paragonimiasis. After the treatment, levels of specific antibodies in the sera gradually decreased to negative range in most patients. In some cases with persisting high antibody levels, however, the reactions at 27 kDa egg Protein were sustained throughout the observation period of 34 months. The reactions at 35 and 32 kDa in adult extract and rPw28CCP disappeared rapidly after the treatment. Persistent antibody reactions even after successful treatment are provoked by continuous antigenic challenge from eggs which were not resolved by treatment.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.763-766
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• 2013

A synthetic peptide was prepared based on the antigenic region of Paragonimus westermani pre-procathepsin L, and its applicability for immunodiagnosis for human paragonimiasis (due to Paragonimus heterotremus) was tested using an ELISA to detect IgG4 antibodies in the sera of patients. Sera from other helminthiases, tuberculosis, and healthy volunteers were used as the references. This peptide-based assay system gave sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and positive and negative predictive values of 100%, 94.6%, 96.2%, 100%, and 88.9%, respectively. Cross reactivity was frequently seen against the sera of fascioliasis (75%) and hookworm infections (50%). Since differential diagnosis between paragonimiasis and fascioliasis can be easily done by clinical presentation and fascioliasis serology, this cross reaction is not a serious problem. Sera from patients with other parasitoses (0-25%) rarely responded to this synthetic antigen. This synthetic peptide antigen seems to be useful for development of a standardized diagnostic system for paragonimiasis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.349-352
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• 2012

A 94-year-old female with end-stage renal disease presents with fever, fatigue, and hematochezia. She had previously resided in Hunan Province, China, and Myanmar, and she immigrated to Taiwan 30 years ago. Colonoscopy revealed a colonic ulcer. Biopsy of the colonic ulcer showed ulceration of the colonic mucosa, and many Paragonimus westermani-like eggs were noted. Serum IgG antibody levels showed strong reactivity with P. westermani excretory-secretory antigens by ELISA. Intestinal paragonimiasis was thus diagnosed according to the morphology of the eggs and serologic finding. After treatment with praziquantel, hematochezia resolved. The present case illustrates the extreme manifestations encountered in severe intestinal paragonimiasis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.335-337
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• 2014

To determine the cause of death of prisoners of war during the Korean War (1950-1953), death certificates or medical records were analyzed. Out of 7,614 deaths, 5,013 (65.8%) were due to infectious diseases. Although dysentery and tuberculosis were the most common infectious diseases, parasitic diseases had caused 14 deaths: paragonimiasis in 5, malaria in 3, amoebiasis in 2, intestinal parasitosis in 2, ascariasis in 1, and schistosomiasis in 1. These results showed that paragonimiasis, malaria, and amoebiasis were the most fatal parasitic diseases during the early 1950s in the Korean Peninsula. Since schistosomiasis is not endemic to Korea, it is likely that the infected private soldier moved from China or Japan to Korea.

• The Korean Nurse
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• v.4 no.4 s.18
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• pp.17-21
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• 1965