• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.299-305
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• 2015

Tapeworms of the genus Spirometra are pseudophyllidean cestodes endemic in Korea. At present, it is unclear which Spirometra species are responsible for causing human infections, and little information is available on the epidemiological profiles of Spirometra species infecting humans in Korea. Between 1979 and 2009, a total of 50 spargana from human patients and 2 adult specimens obtained from experimentally infected carnivorous animals were analyzed according to genetic and taxonomic criteria and classified as Spirometra erinaceieuropaei or Spirometra decipiens depending on the morphology. Morphologically, S. erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens are different in that the spirally coiled uterus in S. erinaceieuropaei has 5-7 complete coils, while in S. decipiens it has only 4.5 coils. In addition, there is a 9.3% (146/1,566) sequence different between S. erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens in the cox1 gene. Partial cox1 sequences (390 bp) from 35 Korean isolates showed 99.4% (388/390) similarity with the reference sequence of S. erinaceieuropaei from Korea (G1724; GenBank KJ599680) and an additional 15 Korean isolates revealed 99.2% (387/390) similarity with the reference sequences of S. decipiens from Korea (G1657; GenBank KJ599679). Based on morphologic and molecular databases, the estimated population ratio of S. erinaceieuropaei to S. decipiens was 35: 15. Our results indicate that both S. erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens found in Korea infect humans, with S. erinaceieuropaei being 2 times more prevalent than S. decipiens. This study is the first to report human sparganosis caused by S. decipiens in humans in Korea.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 1990

Zoonoses are those diseases and infections that are naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and man. At present, approximately 175 diseases caused by virus, rickettsia, bacteria, protozoa and helminthes as well as some of arthropods and the number is continually increasing. Although zoonoses are generally recognized as significant health problems, the actual prevalence and incidence of zoonotic infections is difficult to determine. Medical services in a rural area are scarce and ill persons may have little chance to see a physician. Furthermore, a lack of physician awareness and of appropriate diagnostic support is made often misdiagnosis. In rural Korea, parasitic disease is still important subject in the field of zoonotic infections considering its number and morbidity. Recently there was conspicuous reduction of soil-transmitted parasitic diseases (i.e. ascariasis. hookworms, trichuriasis), but clonorchiasis. intestinal trematodiases and taeniasis are a considerable problem. This is often significantly related to human behavioral patterns based on socio-economic and cultural conditions and linked with the local biologic and physical environment. The most of all parasitic zoonoses to man and animals are the food-transmitted parasitic diseases, and domestic animals such as dog, cat, pig, as well as fat and some mammals, ruminants and birds are act as reservoir hosts. In the present topics, current problems of parasitic zoonoses caused by protozoan infections (i. e. toxoplasmosis, pneumocystosis and cryptosporidiosis) which are the most common opportunistic in AIDS or immunocompromised persons, trematode infections (i.e. clonorchiasis, paragonimiasis and some intestinal tremadodiases). cestode infections such as cysticercosis and sparganosis, and some nematode infections of anisakiasis, thelaziasis and strongyloidiasis, are discussed here those on the occurrence in man and animals and the source of transmission as well as prevention and control measures in Korea.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 1991

Out of many component proteins in crude saline extract of Spirometra mansoni plerocercoid (sparganum) , 36 kDa and 29 kDa proteins were found to be the most antigenic and were already purified by immunoaffinity chromatography using monoclonal antibody as a ligand. In this study, a single step purification of these potent antigenic proteins of sparganum extract was investigated. When the crude saline extract was charged to gelatin-Sepharose 4B affinity column, 36 kDa and 29 kDa protein fractions were bound. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and SDS-PAGE/immunoblot confirmed that the bound protein to gelatin was serologically pure. When evaluated by ELISA with patients sera, the purified protein of 36 and 29 kDa also showed improved antigenicity.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.25-41
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• 1986

The applicability of micro-ELISA was evaluated in human neuro-cysticercosis using paired samples of serum and CSF. A total of 355 cases who were mostly neurologic patients was subjected. Cystic fluid of C. cellulosae was used as antigen in protein concentration of $2.5{\;}{\mu}g/ml$. Serum was diluted to 1 : 100 and CSF was undiluted in the assay for the specific IgG antibody level. The differential criterion of the positive reaction was the abs. of o. 18 in both samples. The results were summarized as follows: 1. The overall sensitivity of the micro-ELISA in 71 confirmed neurocysticercosis was 90.1% ; the sensitivity by serum was 77.5% and that by CSF was 83.1%. CSF was a more sensitive and valuable material. Most of the false negative cases of neuro-cysticercosis showed far lower level of abs. rather than marginal. 2. The overall specificity of the micro-ELISA in 52 confirmed other neurologic diseases was 88.5%; the specificities by serum and by CSF were 94.2% respectively. Cases of other neurologic diseases did not show false positive reactions in both samples. 3. When serum was assayed, taeniasis(2/18), sparganosis(2/20), paragonimiasis(1/56), clonorchiasis(1/15) and fascioliasis(1/1) cases showed cross reactions. When CSF was assayed, 2 ot 10 neuro-sparganosis showed cross reactions while none of 9 neuro-paragonimiasis showed it. Out of 71 confirmed neuro-cysticercosis cases, 6 and 11 showed cross reactions by serum and CSF to crude extract antigen of sparganum; but no case did show it to crude extract antigen of Paragonimus westermani. 4. Ventricular CSF showed low or negative levels of IgG antibody than lumbar CSF unless the lesion was at the lateral ventricle itself. 5. Out of 4 racemose cysticercosis cases, 3 showed positive reaction in serum while all of 3 examined CSF were positive. The above results indicated that the serological test for detecting the specific IgG antibody by micro-ELISA using paired samples of serum and CSF was very helpful for clinical differentiation of neuro-cysticercosis from neurologic diseases of other causes.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 1994

In order to know the species and frequency of human parasitic infection diagnosed by biopsy, 149 cases (0.18%) of parasitic infection were reviewed, which were selected from 80,947 biopsied materials submitted for routine histopathological examination during a period of 10 years from 1980 to 1989 at Department of Pathology, Chonnam National University Hospital. They consisted of 112 cases of cysticercosis, 17 paragonimiasis, 7 clonorchiasis, 4 amebiasis, 1 sparganosis, 1 enterobiasis, 1 anisakiasis, and 1 fascioliasis respectively Based on morphological preservation of cysticercus, they could be divided into mild (20.2%), moderate (40.4%), and severe (39.4%) degeneration. Except 2 cases biopsied at the lungs, 15 cases of ectopic paragonimiasis were located at abdominal cavity (8 cases) and central nervous system (7 cases). One case of intrahepatic fascioliasis was observed. This is the 13th human fasciollasis reported in Korea. From the above results, the frequency of parasitic infections found in biopsied specimens was on the decrease as the year passed by, but biopsy is very useful diagnostic method on tissue parasites such as cystlcercosis and ectopic paragonimiasis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.181-185
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• 2016

Human sparganosis is a zoonotic disease caused by infection with larval forms (procercoid/plerocercoid) of Spirometra spp. The purpose of this study was to identify Spirometra spp. of infected snakes using a multiplex PCR assay and phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data from the spargana of terrestrial snakes obtained from Korea and China. A total of 283 snakes were obtained that included 4 species of Colubridae comprising Rhabdophis tigrinus tigrinus (n=150), Dinodon rufozonatum rufozonatum (n=64), Elaphe davidi (n=2), and Elaphe schrenkii (n=7), and 1 species of Viperidae, Agkistrodon saxatilis (n=60). The snakes were collected from the provinces of Chungbuk, Chungnam, and Gyeongbuk in Korea (n=161), and from China (n=122). The overall infection rate with spargana was 83% (235/283). The highest was recorded for D. rufozonatum rufozonatum (100%), followed by A. saxatilis (85%) and R. tigrinus tigrinus (80%), with a negative result for E. davidi (0%) and E. schrenkii (0%). The sequence identities between the spargana from snakes (n=50) and Spirometra erinaceieuropaei (KJ599680) or S. decipiens (KJ599679) control specimens were 90.8% and 99.2%, respectively. Pairwise genetic distances between spargana (n=50) and S. decipiens ranged from 0.0080 to 0.0107, while those between spargana and S. erinaceieuropaei ranged from 0.1070 to 0.1096. In this study, all of the 904 spargana analyzed were identified as S. decipiens either by a multiplex PCR assay (n=854) or mitochondrial cox1 sequence analysis (n=50).

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.145-158
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• 1986

This study was undertaken to purify cystic fluid (CF) antigen of Taenia solium metacestodes by affinity chromatogaphy using specific monoclonal antibody(McAb) and to characterize the antigenicity of the purified antigen. The hybridoma cell lines, prepared by fusion between mouse plasmacytoma and spleen cells from BALB/c mice immunized with CF, secreted antibodies reacting to various helminthic antigens. Majority of cell lines reacted to CF only but some also reacted to parenchymal antigen of T. solium metacestodes, adult T. saginata, sparganum, hydatid cystic fluid, Paragonimus westermani and Clonorchis sinensis, either in combination with CF, other antigens or independently. Cloned cells derived from monoclonal lines also produced antibodies reacting either to CF only or to other helminthes in combination or independently. These results indicated that CF of T. solium metacestodes contained proteins which possessed antigenic determinants not only specific to CF but also cross reactive with the afore-mentioned helminthes. CF of T. solium metacestodes was purified by affinity chromatography using the McAb which reacted to CF and parenchymal antigens. The affinity-purified antigen (A-Ag) and unbound pool CF (U-Ag) were separated. A-Ag showed 2 protein bands by disc-PAGE whereas CF exhibited 6 bands and U-Ag consisted of all bands CF had. The diagnostic significance of A-Ag was evaluated by ELISA in human neurocysticercosis and other helminthic and neurologic diseases. By A-Ag, the levels of the specific IgG antibody, as shown by absorbance in sera and CSF, were lower than those of CF and U-Ag. Accordingly, the sensitivity was about 70% of CF and U-Ag. However, the nonspecific positive reactions to CF and U-Ag, observed in sparganosis, T. saginata infection and paragonimiasis did not occur when A-Ag was used. These results indicated that the affinity-purified A-Ag had the higher specificity but the lower sensitivity as a diagnostic antigen in cysticercosis, probably because it only detected a single or limited numbers of monospecific antibodies among the diverse polyclonal antibodies produced in the patients with neurocysticercosis.