High Prevalence of Haplorchis taichui,Phaneropsolus molenkampi, and Other Helminth Infections among People in Khammouane Province, Lao PDR
Jong-Yil Chai,1Eun-Taek Han,2Eun-Hee Shin,1,3Woon-Mok Sohn,4Tai-Soon Yong,5Keeseon S. Eom,6Duk-Young Min,7Jin-Young Um,8Min-Sung Park,8Eui-Hyug Hoang,8Bounlay Phommasack,9Bounnaloth Insisiengmay,9Soon-Hyung Lee,1,8
and Han-Jong Rim10
1Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, and Institute of Endemic Diseases, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul 110-799, Korea.
2Department of Parasitology, College of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701, Korea.
3Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Gyeonggi-do 463-707, Korea.
4Department of Parasitology and Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju 660-751, Korea.
5Department of Parasitology, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
6Department of Parasitology, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Chongju 361-763, Korea.
7Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Eulji University, Daejeon 301-746, Korea.
8Korea Association of Health Promotion, Seoul 157-704, Korea.
9Department of Hygiene and Prevention, Ministry of Public Health, Vientiane, Lao PDR.
10Department of Parasitology, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul 136-705, Korea.
The prevalence of liver and intestinal helminth infections, including Opisthorchis,Haplorchis,Phaneropsolus, hookworms, Enterobius, and Taenia, was surveyed in Khammouane province, Lao PDR. Fecal specimens were collected from 1,242 people (590 men and 652 women) in 3 Mekong riverside villages and were examined by the Kato-Katz thick smear technique. The overall helminth egg positive rate was 81.1%. The positive rate for small trematode eggs, including Opisthorchis viverrini, heterophyids, and lecithodendriids, was 81.1% and the positive rate for hookworms was 6.7%. To obtain adult worms, 35 people who were positive for small trematode eggs were treated with 20-30 mg/kg praziquantel and 10-15 mg/kg pyrantel pamoate, and then purged. Diarrheic stools were collected from 33 of these people and searched for helminth parasites using a stereomicroscope. Mixed infections with various helminths (Haplorchis taichui,Haplorchis yokogawai,Prosthodendrium molenkampi,Phaneropsolus bonnei, echinostomes, hookworms, Trichostrongylus spp., Trichuris trichiura,Enterobius vermicularis, and/or Taenia saginata) were found. The total number of helminth specimens collected was 20,907 (approximately 634 per person). The most common species was H. taichui, followed by P. molenkampi,O. viverrini,P. bonnei,E. vermicularis, hookworms, and Trichostrongylus spp. These results show that diverse species of intestinal nematodes, trematodes, and cestodes are infecting humans in Khammouane province, Lao PDR.
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