range in size from 20 to 75 mm by 8 to 20 mm. Image taken from
the Centers for Disease Control
...is a parasitic disease that infects
humans in mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and across the
Indian subcontinent. It is estimated that ten million cases occur annually. Those
especially at risk are people who raise pigs or eat fresh water plants in the areas listed
The causal agent of the disease,
an intestinal fluke called
Fasciolopsis buski, is the largest member of class Trematoda within the phylum Platyhelminthes. Adult
trematodes, or flukes, are mostly hermaphroditic parasites of vertebrates, and all
exhibit complex life cycles involving intermediate hosts.
buski generally live on the walls of the duodenum and jejunum in the gastrointestinal
tract, but can spread throughout the intestines in severe cases of infection.
Humans and Pigs (some authors have
implicated dogs and rabbits as reservoirs, but this seems to be rare if true at all).
F. buski is often referred to as giant
intestinal fluke. In China, it is known as ginger worm.
It was estimated in 1947 that 10 million
individuals worldwide (probably limited to Asia and the Indian subcontinent) were
infected, but no current estimate is available. Infection is most heavy in Taiwan,
Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Bangladesh, India, and Indonesia. Disease in humans is
perpetuated by the close relationship between animal husbandry and water plant
agriculture in many far eastern areas. The highest rates of infection are found in the
Kwang-tung and Chekiang provinces of China.
Clinical Presentation in Humans
Diagnosis & Treatment
Public Health and Prevention Strategies
walls of the duodenum and jejunum of the small intestine.
Image taken from Syracuse University
Useful Web Links
Could F. buski be the cause of AIDS?? Hmmm...
CDC information on
Stanford Lane Medical
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases at NIH
What is the WHO
Doing About Intestinal Parasites?
and Training in Tropical Diseases
Markell, Edward K., David T. John, & Wojciech A. Krotoski. Medical Parasitology, 8th ed. W.B.
Saunders Co: Philadelphia, 1999.
Sun, Tsieh. The Color Atlas and Textbook of Diagnostic Parasitology. Igaku-shoin, Ltd: New York,
Katz, Michael, Dickson D. Despommier, & Robert Gwadz. Parasitic Diseases, 2nd ed. Springer-Verlag:
New York. 1989.
Neva, Franklin A. & Harold W. Brown. Basic Clinical Parasitology, 6th ed. Appleton & Lange:
Norwalk, Conn, 1994.
Grove, David I., History of Human Helminthology, CAB International: UK, 1990.
Yoshihara, Shinobu, Nguyen Phuoc Hung, Nguyen Huu Hung, and Chau Ba Loc. "Helminths and Helminthiosis of Pigs in the Mekong Delta Vietnam with Special Reference to Ascariosis and Fasciolopsis buski Infection". Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly. Vol. 33, No. 3 (1999).