Twenty-three species of intestinal flukes reported in man in Southeast Asia are assigned to seven families: Echinostomatidae, Fasciolidae, Heterophyidae, Lecithodriidae, Microphallidae, Paramphistomatidae and Plagiorchiidae. The majority of species belongs to the Heterophyidae and Echinostomatidae families. Common species are Fasciolopsis buski, Echinostoma ilocanum, E. malayanum, E. revolutum and Haplorchis yokogawai. The countries where large number of species were reported are Thailand (14 species), Philippines (12 species), Indonesia (8 species) and Malaysia (4 species). Only one species was recognized in Laos, and Vietnam. Several species reported in man in the other regions, were reported in animals in Southeast Asia. It is possible that these are present in humans but have not yet been reported.
Cruoricola lates are found throughout sea bass (Lates calcarifer), most commonly in the mesenteric blood vessels, kidney, pericardial vessels, and eye. Eggs of C. lates were predominantly found in the gills, ventricle, hepatopancreas, and kidneys, but only develop to miracidia regularly in the gills and heart. Single miracidia escaping appear to cause little damage, but groups induce an inflammatory response and haemorrhage. Endocardial macrophages encapsulate eggs trapped between trabeculae in the heart. The reaction to eggs in the kidneys, hepatopancreas and spleen consists of fibrocytic encapsulation. Infection at the levels observed in this study were insufficient to cause lethal pathological changes, but could result in reduced food conversion ratios or impaired immunological capacity.
Epidemiological studies have been conducted to determine the association between fish and disease. The fish were obtained from rivers, streams, ponds and lakes but few from aquaculture farms. While no defined studies have been carried out in Malaysia, baseline data show that fish obtained from aquaculture farms (mixed farming) contributed to cases of opisthorchiasis and clonorchiasis.
Sundapolystoma chalconotae. n. g., n. sp. (Polystomatidae, Polystomatinae) is proposed for a new polystomatid from the urinary bladder of Rana chalconota (Schlegel) in Peninsular Malaysia. This is the first species of polystomatid to be described from the amphibians of Peninsular Malaysia and the second for the Southeast Asian region. This new genus, as exemplified by S. chalconotae, differs from other polystomatids, and in particular Parapolystoma Ozaki, 1935 (P. bulliense (Johnston, 1912) Ozaki, 1935 and P. johnstoni Pichelin, 1995), in having a tubular uterus and a single diffuse testis. P. crooki Vande Vusse, 1976 is similar to S. chalconotae in having a similar type of uterus and testis, and is re-assigned as Sundapolystoma crooki (Vande Vusse, 1976) n. comb. S. chalconotae differs from S. crooki in having anchors with a longer outer root rather than a longer inner root and 7-8 genital spines compared to 9-13 in S. crooki.
This is a catalogue and discussion of the known dactylogyridean monogenean genera of siluriform fishes of the Old World. Of a total of 38 nominal genera, only 19 are considered valid. Seventeen of these 19 genera are currently in the Ancyrocephalidae (containing the Ancyrocephalinae and Ancylodiscoidinae), whilst the other two (Neocalceostoma and Neocalceostomoides) are in the Neocalceostomatidae. The 17 genera are Anchylodiscus, Ancylodiscoides, Bagrobdella, Bifurcohaptor, Bychowskyella, Chauhanellus, Cornudiscoides, Hamatopeduncularia, Mizelleus, Paraquadriacanthus, Pseudancylodiscoides, Protoancylodiscoides, Quadriacanthus, Schilbetrema, Schilbetrematoides, Synodontella and Thaparocleidus. Clariotrema Long, 1981 and Neobychowskyella Ma, Wang & Li, 1983 are considered synonyms of Bychowskyella Akhmerov, 1952, Anacornuatus Dubey, Gupta & Agarwal, 1992 is considered a synonym of Quadriacanthus Paperna, 1961, Mizellebychowskia Gupta & Sachdeva, 1990 is considered a synonym of Neocalceostoma Tripathi, 1959 and Hargitrema Tripathi, 1959 is treated as a synonym of Hamatopeduncularia Yamaguti, 1953. It is proposed that the Ancylodiscoidinae be raised to family status within the order Dactylogyridea to accommodate these 17 'ancyrocephalid' genera from siluriforms, together with Malayanodiscoides and Notopterodiscoides from notopterids. A key and the diagnostic characteristics of the 19 recognised dactylogyridean genera from catfishes plus two from notopterids, together with a list of species and synonyms, are included. New combinations made in this work are Thaparocleidus avicularia (Chen, 1987) n. comb., T. calyciflorus (Chen, 1987) n. comb., T. choanovagina (Luo & Lang, 1981) n. comb., T. dissimilis (Chen, 1988) n. comb., T. leiocassis (Reichenbach-Klinke, 1959) n. comb., T. meticulosa (Chen, 1987) n. comb., T. parasoti (Zhao & Ma, 1999) n. comb., T. persculpus (Chen, 1987) n. comb., T. valga (Chen, 1987) n. comb. and T. wulingensis (Yao & Wang, 1997) n. comb. [all from Silurodiscoides] and Bychowskyella glyptothoraci (Ma, Wang & Li, 1983) n. comb. [from Neobychowskyella].
Fasciolopsiasis is a disease caused by the largest intestinal fluke, Fasciolopsis buski. The disease is endemic in the Far East and Southeast Asia. Human acquires the infection after eating raw freshwater plants contaminated with the infective metacercariae. There has been no report of fasciolopsiasis either in man or in animal in Malaysia. We are reporting the first case of fasciolopsiasis in Malaysia in a 39-year-old female farmer, a native of Sabah (East Malaysia). This patient complained of cough and fever for a duration of two weeks, associated with loss of appetite and loss of weight. She had no history of traveling overseas. Physical examination showed pallor, multiple cervical and inguinal lymph nodes and hepatosplenomegaly. Laboratory investigations showed that she had iron deficiency anemia. There was leukocytosis and a raised ESR. Lymph node biopsy revealed a caseating granuloma. Stool examination was positive for the eggs of Fasciolopsis buski. The eggs measure 140 x 72.5 microm and are operculated. In this case, the patient did not present with symptoms suggestive of any intestinal parasitic infections. Detection of Fasciolopsis buski eggs in the stool was an incidental finding. She was diagnosed as a case of disseminated tuberculosis with fasciolopsiasis and was treated with antituberculosis drugs and praziquantel, respectively.
Empruthotrema stenophallus n. sp. (Monogenea: Monocotylidae) is described from specimens from the nasal tissue of the blue-spotted maskray Dasyatis kuhlii (Muller and Henle, 1841) collected in shallow waters off Pulau Banggi and Pulau Mabul, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia. This is the first monogenean species to be described from an elasmobranch collected from Sabah. E. stenophallus can be distinguished from the other 6 members of the genus by the morphology of the sclerotized male copulatory organ, which is narrow, short, and distally tapered. E. dasyatidis Whittington and Kearn, 1992, previously documented from the nasal tissue of several of elasmobranch species from Australia, is recorded from 8 host species distributed around Malaysian Borneo. These represent new host and locality records for this monocotylid. The difficulties in identifying species of Empruthotrema and the apparent lack of host specificity by some members of the genus are discussed.