FIRST REPORT OF THE ISOLATION OF AN ADULT WORM OF THE GENUS BRACHYLAIMA (DIGENEA, BRACHYLAIMIDAE), FROM THE GASTROINTESTINAL-TRACT OF A HUMAN

A 78-year-old woman presented with an 18-month history of intermittent diarrhoea, Examination of her stools revealed brachylaimid eggs, whic h were present in three separate specimens over a week. After treatmen t with praziquantel a degenerate adult Brachylaima species was recover ed from her faeces. She lived in a rural area of South Australia and a te vegetables grown in her own garden which had been infested with hel icid snails. In South Australia these introduced European helicid snai ls are commonly infected with brachylaimid intermediate larval stages and are considered to be the source of the human infection. (C) 1998 A ustralian Society for Parasitology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.