Sparganosis in China

Abstract

Sparganosis is the term used for human’s infection of plerocercoid larvae of genus Spirometra. Most sparganosis cases in China are caused by Spirometra mansoni, a parasite of carnivores. A higher prevalence is in Asian countries, especially in China, Vietnam, Japan, and Korea. Sparganosis has become an important food-borne disease in China. The cases have been reported continually because of many causes, such as change of our diet habit, deficiency of knowledge on sparganosis, transportation development, enhancement of parasitic adaptability, and food supervisory defect. Since the first human infection was discovered by Patrick Manson in 1882, more than thousands cases have been reported in China. Human is an accidental host in its life cycle, becoming infection of plerocercoid larvae by contacting with or ingestion of the first, second intermediate hosts, or a paratenic host. The human sparganosis is divided into subcutaneous sparganosis, ocular sparganosis, buccal cavity sparganosis, cerebral sparganosis, and visceral sparganosis. Diagnosis depends on pathological examination after surgical removal of the larvae. Surgical removal is the first choice of treatment. Although praziquantel is often used to kill the parasite, its curative effect against plerocercoid seems different in clinical practices. Up to date, treatment of sparganosis with traditional Chinese medicines has not been in practices. A traditional Chinese medicine, the dried sclerote of Omphalia lapidescens, named as “thunder ball” (the words translated from Chinese words “Lei” and “Qiu,” “Lei” means thunder, “Qiu” means ball) was used to treat the animal experimental infection of plerocercoid, which revealed certain efficacy for treating the infected mice in vivo. The in vitro experimental results demonstrated that thunder ball can cause extensive tissue damages in plerocercoids; more severe ultrastructure damages of plerocercoid were found by thunder ball than praziquantel. Avoiding ingestion of raw fleshes of frog or snake is the best prevention.