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Experimental infection in a human subject by a possibly undescribed species of Taenia in Taiwan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2009

David Chao
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, National Yang-Ming Medical College, Taipei 11221, Taiwan, Republic of China
Ming M. Wong
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, Davis, California 95626, USA
Ping-Chin Fan
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, National Yang-Ming Medical College, Taipei 11221, Taiwan, Republic of China

Abstract

A cysticercus of a possibly undescribed species of Taenia which occurs commonly in Taiwan aborigines was used to establish an experimental infection in a human volunteer. Symptomatic effects attributed to the infection included diarrhoea, upper abdominal pain, and increase or loss of appetite over a four-month period. After an expelled proglottid was observed 122 days post-exposure, eggs and proglottids were found continuously until the patient was treated with anthelmintics. Antibody titres measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and levels of eosinophilia seemed to correlate with symptoms. Haematological analyses revealed an abnormal lipid metabolism during the entire symptomatic period.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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