Abstract

An epidemiological survey on Metagonimus yokogawai infection was performed in the eastern coast area of Kangwon province. Formalin-ether concentration technique and Stoll's dilution egg counting method were employed to figure out the prevalence and intensity of M. yokogawai infection and eating habits of inhabitants with raw freshwater fish. The results are summarized as follows: The prevalence rate of M. yokogawai infection was 6.6% among a total of 2,357 examinees; 8.6% (115 out of 1,345) in male and 4.0% (40 out of 1,012) in female. The prevalence rates were different by the streams where the examinees were residing: 17.8% along the area of Ohsip-cheon (stream), 11.8% along Maeup-cheon, 1.7% along Hwasang-cheon, 1.3% along Yeongok-cheon, 0.9% along Namdae-cheon, 0.9% along Sa-cheon and 0% in the other streams (Yongchon-cheon, Kangnung Namdae-cheon and Jusoo-cheon) in decreasing order. By social strata, the positive rate was 8.0% (122 out of 1,521) in general inhabitants and 3.9% (33 out of 836) in school children. By the intensity of infection by means of EPG counts in feces; the light infection (less than 400/EPG) was 74.1%, moderate infection (401-1,000/EPG) 17.3% and heavy infection (more than 1,001/EPG) 8.6%. Twelves out of 50 sweetfish (Plecoglossus altivelis) (24%) caught from the streams in eastern coast of Kangwon-Do were infected with metacercariae of M. yokogawai, and the number of larvae detected were 70.7 per fish in average. The metacercarial infection rate in fish were also different by the streams; 100% in Ohsip-cheon of Samcheok-Gun, 14.3% in Sa-cheon, 16.7% in Yeongok-cheon of Myeongju-Gun and 0% in Namdae-cheon of Yangyang-Gun, respectively. Six hundred ninety five (695) out of 1,396 inhabitants and school children (49.8%) were experienced in eating raw freshwater fishes (Plecoglossus altivelis, Tribolodon hakonensis, Coreoperca sp., Moroco sp., Carassius sp. & Cyprinus sp. and Zacco platypus). The data were assayed with the questionnaire collected from the examinees. In summarizing the above results, it is known that the Ohsip-cheon area of Samcheok-Gun is highly infected region, and the other areas of Kangnung Namdae-cheon, Yeongok-cheon and Yangyang Namdae-cheon are very lowly infected or non-infected regions for M. yokogawai infection.