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Paragonimus westermani (Japanese lung fluke or oriental lung fluke) is the most common species of lung fluke that infects humans, causing paragonimiasis. [2] Human infections are most common in eastern Asia and in South America. Paragonimiasis may present as a sub-acute to chronic inflammatory disease of the lung. It was discovered by Dutch ...
The first human case was seen in 1879 in Taiwan. An autopsy was done and adult trematodes were found in the lungs. The adult flukes are reddish-brown in color with an ovoid shape. They have two muscular suckers, the first an oral sucker located anteriorly and the second a ventral sucker located mid-body. The adult flukes can live up to 20 years.
Several of the species are known as lung flukes. In humans some of the species occur as zoonoses ; the term for the condition is paragonimiasis . The first intermediate hosts of Paragonimus include at least 54 species of freshwater snails from superfamilies Cerithioidea and Rissooidea .
The lung fluke encysts within the tissue of crustaceans until the crustacean is consumed by humans or other animals. Once the fluke has been ingested, enzymes within the digestive tract of the consumer break down the parasitic cysts. The immature parasite continues to mature within the lungs of its new host, feeding on its intestine, and lay eggs.
Main article: Human parasite Endoparasites Protozoan organisms Common name of organism or disease Latin name (sorted) Body parts affected Diagnostic specimen Prevalence Source/Transmission (Reservoir/Vector) Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and Acanthamoeba keratitis (eye infection) Acanthamoeba spp. eye, brain, skin culture worldwide contact lenses cleaned with contaminated tap water ...
Of these, the most common cause of human paragonimiasis is Paragonimus westermani, the oriental lung fluke. [11] Lung flukes require three different hosts in order to complete their life cycle. The first intermediate host is a snail, the second intermediate host is a crab or crayfish, and the definitive host for lung flukes is an animal or ...
Intestinal flukes infect the gastrointestinal tract and can be caused by the species such as Fasciolopsis buski, Echinostoma, Metagonimus, Heterophyes, and Gastrodiscoides. [12] [5] Lung flukes, mainly the genus, Paragonimus, infect the lungs of organisms, causing infections that can last for up to 20 years in humans.
Generally, the discovery of parasites in ancient humans relies on the study of feces and other fossilized material. The earliest known parasite in a human was eggs of the lung fluke found in fossilized feces in northern Chile and is estimated to be from around 5900 BC.