Human infection with the pancreas fluke, Eurytrema pancreaticum
Ishii, Y.; Koga, M.; Fujino, T.; Higo, H.; Ishibashi, J.; Oka, K.; Saito, S.
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 32(5): 1019-1022
1983
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-9637 PMID: 6625056 Document Number: 213857
A 70 yr old Japanese women with gastric cancer in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, was found at autopsy to have .apprx. 15 adult flukes, E. pancreaticum, in the dilated pancreatic ducts. The number of eosinophils in the blood was within normal limits. The 2 worms which were least damaged when removed from the gland were used for stained specimens, and another 2 were macerated to collect the eggs. The parasites (10 .times. 5, 11 .times. 7 mm in size) were broad, flattened, oval to fusiform. The suckers were large, the oral (2.1 .times. 2.0, 2.0 .times. 1.9 mm) being larger than the ventral (1.6 .times. 1.6, 1.4 .times. 1.5 mm). The eggs (47.06 .+-. 3.88 .times. 30.35 .+-. 2.74 .mu.m) were embryonated in the uterus. These findings led to the identification of E. pancreaticum. This was the 2nd documented case of eurytremiasis in man.