Social and medical aspects of opisthorchiasis in the Sverdlovsk region

Ponomarev, D.N.; Tsybina, T.N.; Ponomareva, E.D.; Borzunov, V.M.

Meditsinskaia Parazitologiia i Parazitarnye Bolezni 1987(3): 48-51

1987


ISSN/ISBN: 0025-8326
PMID: 2957576
Document Number: 288567
Aspects of the pathology and epidemiology of opisthorchiasis in the Sverlovsk region, USSR, are considered. 200 sera of patients with acute and chronic opisthorchiasis were tested for the presence of haptoglobin. 95.7% of positive reactions, usually with high titres, were recorded in patients in the acute phase. The amounts of serum trace elements were also indicative of the phase and severity of the disease. The prevalence and severity of clinical symptoms were highest in patients aged > 45 years. Gastro-intestinal and neurological symptoms were frequent and hepatic involvement was a characteristic of chronic opisthorchiasis. Archives for 1970-84 did not link opisthorchiasis with liver cancer. From 1980 to 1984, 30% of children and 15% of adults presenting with allergic dermatoses (4000 patients were investigated) were diagnosed as having opisthorchiasis. Anthelmintic treatment usually resulted in the clearance or minimization of the skin symptoms. Opisthorchiasis was often associated with other parasitic infections, an association with Diphyllobothrium producing the most severe disease.

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