Fasciolopsiasis: is it a controllable food-borne disease?

Fasciolopsiasis, endemic to the Orient and Southeast Asia, is a snail-trans mitted, intestinal, foodborne parasitic zoonosis caused by a trematode, Fas ciolopsis buski, which also infects farm pigs. Fasciolopsiasis remains a pu blic health problem despite changes in eating habits, alterations in social and agricultural practices, health education, industrialization, and envir onmental alterations. The disease occurs focally and is most prevalent in s chool-age children. In foci of parasite transmission, the prevalence of inf ection in children ranges from 57% in mainland China to 25% in Taiwan and f rom 50% in Bangladesh and 60% in India to 10% in Thailand. Control programs implemented for foodborne zoonoses are not fully successful for fasciolops iasis because of century-old traditions of eating raw aquatic plants and us ing untreated water. Fasciolopsiasis is a,aggravated by social and economic factors such as poverty, malnutrition, an explosively growing free-food ma rket, a lack of sufficient food inspection and sanitation, other helminthia ses, and declining economic conditions.