HUMAN GNATHOSTOMIASIS CAUSED BY GNATHOSTOMA-DOLORESI, WITH PARTICULARREFERENCE TO THE PARASITOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE CAUSATIVE AGENT

Gnathostomiasis caused by Gnathostoma doloresi Tubangui was observed i n a 46-year-old Japanese man, a clerk, who resided in the Fukuoka pref ecture of Kyushu district, in southern Japan. The first symptom noted by the patient was epigastric pain, which occurred 3 days after he had consumed the raw flesh of a brook trout, Oncorhynchus masou masou (Br evoort), from a trout farm in neighbouring Kumamoto prefecture. Three days later, he developed creeping eruptions on his trunk. The eruption s spread and the patient was admitted to hospital 18 days after eating the trout. No nematode larvae were found in any of four skin biopsies collected on admission. However, vesicles appeared on the lower abdom en of the patient 20 days after he had eaten the trout, and a small ne matode was removed from one of them. One day after the nematode had be en excised, a cutaneous swelling suddenly occurred on the patient's lo wer left jowl and this persisted for a week. All the skin abnormalitie s gradually decreased from day 25 post-ingestion and had disappeared b y day 30. The isolated nematode was identified as an advanced third-st age larva of G. doloresi, based on its morphology and the number of bo oklets on its head-bulb.