INTESTINAL PARASITES IN HONG-KONG

A retrospective survey of laboratory records of 8590 stool samples exa mined for intestinal parasites from local Hong Kong residents during t he first 6 months of 1992 showed changes in the pattern of such infest ations, particularly in the age of first acquiring infection and the p eak age of occurrence for the different intestinal parasites, in compa rison with data obtained 12 years ago. The largest percentage decline was seen for Ascaris, reflecting the rapid urbanization of the territo ry, while clonorchiasis showed a much slower decline, probably related to the difficulty of changing local culinary habits. A similar declin e is also seen amongst Vietnamese migrants in Hong Kong. Published epi demiological data from the South-east Asian region showed widely varyi ng patterns from countries in different socioeconomic states.