Epidemiology of clonorchiasis in Ninh Binh Province, Vietnam

Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 1998 Jun;29(2):250-4.

Abstract

Clinical and stool examinations for clonorchiasis were carried out in an endemic area, Kim Son District, Ninh Binh Province, Vietnam. Stool examination with the Kato-Katz technic revealed that in 306 residents selected randomly, 42 people (13.7%) were infected with Clonorchis sinensis. The rate was biased towards men (23.4%) as opposed to women (1.5%) and increased with age. No children younger than 10 years old were infected, reflecting difference in a chance for acquisition of infection through a habit of eating raw fish. Few clinical abnormalities were found by blood and urine examinations of the patients. Treatment with praziquantel decreased the infection rate to 5.3% at 6 weeks later. Snails, Melanoides tuberculatus, collected from ponds around the settlements were infected with cercariae at a rate of 13.3%. Farmed fish (Hypophthalmichtys molitrix) in the ponds were infected with metacercariae at rates of 56.4% in small individuals and 100% in large ones. The life cycle of C. sinensis is exclusively completed in the ponds and the traditional habit of eating raw fish in summer was thought to be a major route of infection.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Animals
  • Antiplatyhelmintic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Child
  • Clonorchiasis / drug therapy
  • Clonorchiasis / epidemiology*
  • Clonorchiasis / transmission
  • Clonorchis sinensis / isolation & purification*
  • Diet
  • Feces / parasitology
  • Female
  • Fishes / parasitology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Praziquantel / therapeutic use
  • Sex Factors
  • Snails / parasitology
  • Vietnam / epidemiology

Substances

  • Antiplatyhelmintic Agents
  • Praziquantel