New cases of human diphyllobothriasis in Patagonia, Argentina.
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The purpose of the paper is to describe 4 new cases of human diphyllobothriasis in Patagonia, Argentine. Adult parasites recovered were submitted to morphological and histological analyses for taxonomic identification. The etiological agent found was always Diphyllobothrium latum and all the cases were autochthonous. These data combined with previous information make the number of autochthonous human cases of diphyllobothriosis registered in Argentina increase to 18. (+info)
Diphyllobothrium latum infection after eating domestic salmon flesh.
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Diphyllobothrium latum infection in human is not common in Korea and only thirty seven cases have been reported since 1921. We report two cases of fish tapeworm infection after ingestion of raw cherry salmon (Oncorhynchus masou) caught in the domestic river. Among four family members who ate together raw salmon flesh six months ago, just two, mother and daughter, were infected. It is our expectation that the salmon associated tapeworm infections would be enlisted as one of the major parasitic problems with the growing consumption of salmon in Korea. (+info)
Single low-dose treatment with praziquantel for Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense infections.
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OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether praziquantel is effective against diphyllobothriasis nihonkaiense at doses less than the conventional dose. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fourteen Japanese men with diphyllobopthriasis nihonkaiense were treated with a single administration of praziquantel at 5-10 mg/kg. RESULTS: Twelve patients expelled a complete integrated Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense with its scolex. One patient expelled an integrated D. nihonkaiense without its scolex, and one patient expelled 2 complete integrated D. nihonkaiense with their scolex, and an integrated D. nihonkaiense without its scolex. The lack of eggs in stool samples was confirmed in these 2 patients after the end of therapy. All patients had not expelled proglottides after the end of therapy for more than 1 year. No side effects were identified in any of the patients. CONCLUSION: All patients were considered to be cured. Our results indicate that the oral administration of a single dose of praziquantel at 5-10 mg/kg is effective and safe against D. nihonkaiense infections. (+info)
Modulation of granulocyte responses in three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus infected with the tapeworm Schistocephalus solidus.
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Leukocytes isolated from the head kidney and peripheral blood of 3-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus L. were analysed by means of flow cytometry during infection with the tapeworm Schistocephalus solidus (Muller, 1776). Although parasites increased their body weight continuously throughout the observation period (98 d), proportions of granulocytes increased in blood and head kidney only up to Day 63 post-infection (p.i.). Thereafter, declining proportions of granulocytes were observed in both organs. Thus the relative decrease in granulocyte number was not correlated to a decline in the parasitic load of the fish. To investigate a possible modulatory impact of S. solidus on granulocyte function, head kidney leukocytes were isolated at times before Day 63 p.i. and tested in vitro for their capacity to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). Head kidney leukocytes from S. solidus-infected fish, analysed immediately after isolation (ex vivo, Day 40 p.i.), exhibited a higher ROS production when stimulated with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), than leukocytes from naive, sham-treated control fish and fish that had resisted or cleared the infection (exposed but not infected). The latter showed an increased spontaneous ROS production that was not correlated to the numbers of granulocytes present in the head kidney isolates. In infected sticklebacks, spontaneous and PMA-induced ROS production was significantly correlated with numbers of granulocytes present in the head kidney isolates, suggesting that elevated ROS production was due to higher numbers of responding cells rather than an increased capacity of single cells. In vitro, after cultivation for 4 d in the presence of pokeweed mitogen (PWM) or extracts from S. solidus, head kidney leukocytes from control fish showed an increased ROS production and phagocytic activity compared with non-stimulated control cultures. In contrast, head kidney leukocytes from infected fish isolated on Days 48 and 44 p.i., failed to respond to S. solidus antigens in vitro. During S. solidus infection, granulocyte mobilisation resulted in elevated numbers of these cells in head kidneys, but the lack of an in vitro response to S. solidus antigens indicates an in vivo priming of granulocytes by the parasite. These observations may reflect the ability of S. solidus to impair the host's immune response once the parasite is developing in the body cavity of G. aculeatus. (+info)
The first confirmed case of Diphyllobothrium latum in Brazil.
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Diphyllobothriasis is an infection of the small intestine by the broad tapeworm Diphyllobothrium sp. The associated symptomatology is nonspecific, but megaloblastic anemia is a well-described complication. Although the infection is common in temperate regions, descriptions in South America have so far been limited to Chile, Peru, and a few cases in Argentina. This paper presents the first confirmed Brazilian case of diphyllobothriasis. A 29-years-old woman living in Salvador (state of Bahia) apparently acquired the infection from eating sushi. The diagnosis was based on fecal examination that revealed a large quantity of operculated eggs. A single dose of praziquantel (600 mg) was sufficient to cure the infection. (+info)
Diphyllobothriasis, Brazil.
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Cases of human diphyllobothriasis have been reported worldwide. Only 1 case in Brazil was diagnosed by our institution from January 1998 to December 2003. By comparison, 18 cases were diagnosed from March 2004 to January 2005. All patients who became infected ate raw fish in sushi or sashimi. (+info)
A surgically confirmed case of breast sparganosis showing characteristic mammography and ultrasonography findings.
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A case of breast sparganosis was confirmed by surgical excision of a worm (fragmented into 5 pieces) in a 59-year-old Korean woman suffering from a palpable mass in the left breast. Mammography and ultrasonography characteristically revealed the presence of several well-defined, isodense and hypoechoic tubular masses, in the upper quadrant of the left breast, each mass consisting of a continuous cord- or worm-like structure. During surgery, a long segment of an actively moving sparganum of Spirometra sp. and 4 small fragments of the same worm, giving a total length of 20.3 cm, were extracted from the upper outer quadrant of the left breast and the axillary region. The infection source remains unclear, because the patient denied ingesting any snake or frog meat or drinking untreated water. (+info)
Is the human-infecting Diphyllobothrium pacificum a valid species or just a South American population of the holarctic fish broad tapeworm, D. latum?
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Using ITS2 gene sequences, the validity of the tapeworm Diphyllobothrium pacificum (Nybelin, 1931), infecting humans on the Pacific coast of South America and in Japan, was assessed. ITS2 sequences of this cestode differed markedly (sequence similarity 79.0-80.2%) from those of the most common human-infecting cestode, the broad fish tapeworm Diphyllobothrium latum (L.), as well as other four species of Diphyllobothrium, including potential human parasites (D. cordatum, D. dendriticum, and D. lanceolatum) and two species of Spirometra (sequence similarity 77.5-81.9%). Interspecific sequence similarity between all but one (D. pacificum) species was 86.1-99.6%, whereas individual isolates of D. dendriticum and D. ditremum exhibited intraspecific sequence similarity of 97.0-98.0% and 98.2-99.9%, respectively. Phylogenetic trees constructed from ITS2 sequences show a markedly distant position of D. pacificum from other species analyzed and also indicate the possible paraphyly of Spirometra. (+info)