• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.667-672
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• 2014

While imported falciparum malaria has been increasingly reported in recent years in Korea, clinicians have difficulties in making a clinical diagnosis as well as in having accessibility to effective anti-malarial agents. Here we describe an unusual case of imported falciparum malaria with severe hemolytic anemia lasting over 2 weeks, clinically mimicking a coinfection with babesiosis. A 48-year old Korean man was diagnosed with severe falciparum malaria in France after traveling to the Republic of Benin, West Africa. He received a 1-day course of intravenous artesunate and a 7-day course of Malarone (atovaquone/proguanil) with supportive hemodialysis. Coming back to Korea 5 days after discharge, he was readmitted due to recurrent fever, and further treated with Malarone for 3 days. Both the peripheral blood smears and PCR test were positive for Plasmodium falciparum. However, he had prolonged severe hemolytic anemia (Hb 5.6 g/dl). Therefore, 10 days after the hospitalization, Babesia was considered to be potentially coinfected. A 7-day course of Malarone and azithromycin was empirically started. He became afebrile within 3 days of this babesiosis treatment, and hemolytic anemia profiles began to improve at the completion of the treatment. He has remained stable since his discharge. Unexpectedly, the PCR assays failed to detect DNA of Babesia spp. from blood. In addition, during the retrospective review of the case, the artesunate-induced delayed hemolytic anemia was considered as an alternative cause of the unexplained hemolytic anemia.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.57-60
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• 1994

In order to search the fate of Thelohonellus kitauei spores the extrusion rates of the polar filaments were monitored in uipo chronologically. Preserved spores suspended with various solutions at $-70^{\circ}C$ showed almost the same vigorous pattern as early freezing stages up to 1,750 days after initial preservation. It revealed that the vlabllltles of some spores suspended with 0.45% and 0.9% NaCl solutions and distilled water at $5^{\circ}C$ continued for 1,628 days, 1,614 days and 1,721 days, respectively. And, the life spans of some spores in the previous solutions added with antibiotics at $5^{\circ}C$ were 1,628 days, 1,614 days and 1,714 days, respectively. Key words: TheLohanellus kitnuei, spore, extrusion rate of polar filament, life span

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.713-717
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• 2015

A 23-year-old female residing in a village of Cao Bang Province, North Vietnam, visited the Hospital of Hanoi Medical University in July 2013. She felt dim eyes and a bulge-sticking pain in her left eye for some days before visiting the hospital. In the hospital, a clinical examination, an eye endoscopy, and an operation were carried out. A nematode specimen was collected from the eye of this patient. The body of this worm was thin and long and measured $22.0{\times}0.3mm$. It was morphologically suggested as an immature female worm of Angiostrongylus cantonensis. By a molecular method using 18S rRNA gene, this nematode was confirmed as A. cantonensis. This is the first molecular study for identification of A. cantonensis in Vietnam.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.101-105
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• 2003

The metacercariae of Acanthotrema felis Sohn et at., 2003 (Digenea: Heterophyidae) were discovered in a species of the brackish water fish, Acanthogobius flavimanus, in the Republic of Korea. They were experimentally fed to kittens, and adult flukes were harvested 7 days later. The adults were morphologically characterized by the presence of a bipartite seminal vesicle, the ventral sucker associated with a ventrogenital sac enclosing 3 sclerites (2 long and pointed, and 1 short and thumb-like), and an unarmed gonotyl. The adult flukes were identified as A. felis Sohn et al., 2003, and the brackish water fish A. flavimanus has been verified as one of its second intermediate hosts.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.595-599
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• 2000

Fine wool sheep (n=18) maintained in a tropical environment were allocated to three treatment groups. Estrus was induced with two injections of $PGF_{2{\alpha}}$ (10 mg. im) at 10 days interval. Superovulation treatment started 2 days prior to the second injection of $PGF_{2{\alpha}}$. Each ewe was treated with a total dose of 25 units FSH (Super-OV) i.m. every 12 hover 3 days; Group 2 were also injected i.m. with 200 IU PMSG at the first injection of FSH; Group 3 was treated as in Group 2 and also with GnRH ($4{\mu}g$ Buserelin) at the onset of estrus. The ewes in estrus were mated with a fertile ram. Ovarian examination and recovery of embryo and ova were performed at laparoscopy and laparotomy on day 3 or 4 after mating. Data for onset of estrus, duration of estrus, number of corpora lutea (CL), number of unnovulated large follicle (LF), embryo recovery rate, embryo quality and fertilization recorded for the 3 groups. Ewes in the Group 1 set in estrus later (p<0.05; $50.0{\pm}7.29h$) than the ewes in Group 2 ($24.5{\pm}3.58$) and 3 ($32.5{\pm}3.58h$). The duration of estrus, ovarian size and ovarian response (number of CL and LF) did not differ significantly (p>0.05) among the 3 groups. The proportion of ewes with a superovulatory response (${\geq}2$ CL) was the lowest (50%) in Group 1 treated with FSH alone but ova/embryo recovery (100%) and fertilization (100%) was significantly (p<0.05) higher than Group 2 (58.3 and 85.7%, respectively) and Group 3 (48.6 and 50%, respectively). It is concluded that in tropical fine wool sheep, there is no difference in the 3 treatments for yield of good quality embryos but ovarian response and ovulation rate increased on additional use of PMSG and GnRH respectively to FSH alone.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.299-309
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• 2004

Conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) data obtained along a meridional section in the eastern tropical Pacific in July 2003 have been analyzed to identify various water masses, and to examine the hydrographic structure and zonal geostrophic currents in the upper 1000 m. Water mass analysis shows the existence of subtropical and intermediate waters, characterized by layers of subsurface salinity maximum and minimum, originating from both hemispheres of the Pacific. Vertical section of temperature in the upper 200 m shows the typical trough-ridge structure associated with the zonal current system for most of the tropical Pacific. Water with the lowest salinity of less than 33.6 was found in the upper 30 m between $8.5^{\circ}N$ and $10.5^{\circ}N$ in a boundary zone between the North Equatorial Current and North Equatorial Countercurrent. Temporal changes in water properties observed at $10.5^{\circ}N$ over a period of 9 days suggest both the local rainfall and horizontal advection is responsible for the presence of the low-salinity water. Development of a barrier layer was also observed at $10.5^{\circ}N$. In the North Equatorial Current region a local upwelling was observed at $15^{\circ}N$, which brings high salinity and cooler subtropical water to the sea surface. A band of countercurrent occurs in the upwelling region between $13^{\circ}N$ and $15^{\circ}N$.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.619-633
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• 1996

Intraseasonal variability of the tropical convection over the Indian/western Pacific is studied using the Geostationary Meteorological Satellite high cloud amount. This study is directed to find the tropical-extratropical interaction in the frequency range of intraseasonal and interannual variabilities of the summer monsoon occured over the domain of 90E-171W and 495-50N. Especially, in order to investigate the intraseasonal interaction of last Asia summer monsoon associated with the tropical convections in the high cloud amounts, the spatial and time structure of the intraseasonal oscillation for the movement-and the evolution of the large-scale connections are studied. To describe the spatial and the time evolution, the extended empirical orthogonal function analysis is applied. The first mode may be considered to a normal structure, indicating that the strong convection band over 90E-120E is extended to sastward but this mode was detected as the intraseasonal variability during summer monsoon. It is found that the dominant intraseasonal mode of the tropical convection consists of the spatial changes over a broad period range centered around 40~50days.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.49-53
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• 2008

The metacercariae of Centrocestus formosanus, a minute intestinal trematode of mammals and birds, were detected in the freshwater fish, Puntius brevis, from Vientiane Municipality, Lao PDR. The metacercariae were experimentally fed to mice, and adult flukes were recovered in their small intestines 7 days later. The adult flukes were morphologically characterized by having 32 (rarely 34) circumoral spines arranged in 2 alternative rows, a large bipartite seminal vesicle, an oval-shaped ovary, and an X-shaped excretory bladder. Based on these characters, the adults were identified as Centrocestus formosanus (Nishigori, 1924). The taxonomic significance of C. formosanus, in relation to a closely related species, C. caninus (Leiper, 1913), is briefly discussed. It has been first verified by adult worm recovery that C. formosanus is prevalent in Vientiane areas of Lao PDR, taking the freshwater fish, P. brevis, as a second intermediate host.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.37-40
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• 2008

Iron is an essential element for almost all living organisms. The possible role of iron for growth, adherence and cytotoxicity of Entamoeba histolytica was evaluated in this study. The absence of iron from TYI-S-33 medium stopped amebic growth in vitro. However, iron concentrations in the culture media of 21.4-285.6 ${\mu}M$ did not affect the growth of the amebae. Although growth was not retarded at these concentrations, the adhesive abilities of E. histolytica and their cytotoxicities to CHO cell monolayer were correlated with iron concentration. Amebic adhesion to CHO cell monolayers was significantly reduced by low-iron ($24.6{\pm}2.1%$) compared with $62.7{\pm}2.8\;and\;63.1{\pm}1.4%$ of amebae grown in a normal-iron and high-iron media, respectively. E. histolytica cultured in the normal- and high-iron media destroyed $69.1{\pm}4.3%\;and\;72.6{\pm}5.7%$ of cultured CHO cell monolayers, but amebae grown in the low-iron medium showed a significantly reduced level of cytotoxicity to CHO cells ($2.8{\pm}0.2%$). Addition of divalent cations other than iron to amebic trophozoites grown in the low-iron medium failed to restore levels of the cytotoxicity. However, when E. histolytica grown in low-iron medium were transferred to normal-iron medium, the amebae showed completely restored cytotoxicity within 7 days. The result suggests that iron is an important factor in the adherence and cytotoxicity of E. histolytica to CHO cell monolayer.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.95-99
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• 2015

Strongyloides stercoralis can cause systemic infection, termed strongyloidiasis, and gastrointestinal ulcer disease in immunocompromised patients. However, to our knowledge, there are no reported cases of comorbid gastric adenocarcinoma and S. stercoralis infection. Here, we report a case of an 81-year-old Korean man who presented with S. stercoralis infection coexisting with early gastric adenocarcinoma (T1aN0M0). S. stercoralis eggs, rhabditiform larvae, and adult females were observed in normal gastric and duodenal crypts. They were also observed in atypical glands representative of adenocarcinoma and adenoma. Preliminary laboratory tests revealed mild neutrophilic and eosinophilic leukocytosis. A routine stool test failed to detect rhabditiform larvae in the patient's fecal sample; however, S. stercoralis was identified by PCR amplification and 18S rRNA sequencing using genomic DNA extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues. Postoperatively, the patient had a persistent fever and was treated with albendazole for 7 days, which alleviated the fever. The patient was followed-up by monitoring and laboratory testing for 4 months postoperatively, and no abnormalities were observed thus far. The fact that S. stercoralis infection may be fatal in immunocompromised patients should be kept in mind when assessing high-risk patients.