Human infections by Heterophyes heterophyes and H. dispar imported from Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Two human cases of Heterophyes heterophyes and H. dispar infections were proven by the recovery of their adult worms. The cases were a 38-year and a 40-year old Korean worker who had been in Saudi Arabia for 4~6 years and returned home in 1983 and 1984, respectively, with gastrointestinal troubles. In Saudi Arabia they had eaten raw brackish water fishes such as the mullet. After the treatment with 10 mg/kg praziquantel and purgation with magnesium salt, a total of 19 specimens of H. heterophyes and 140 of H. dispar were collected. It is of interest that the worms persisted in a patient although he had been back in Korea for 14 months. This is the first report on imported heterophyiasis in Korea. Human infection by H. dispar is the first record in the literature.