ABSTRACT
This chapter provides state-of-the-art overviews on foodborne diseases caused by Paragonimus in relation to their etiology, biology, epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Lung flukes of the genus Paragonimus are zoonotic agents of paragonimiasis in animals and humans. Their life cycle requires at least three hosts: freshwater snails as the first and crustaceans as the second intermediate hosts. The full diversity of African Paragonimus species remains to be revealed and might be substantial. Based on the location of the worms, symptoms and pathogenicity of paragonimiasis can be divided into four categories: intestinal symptoms, pleural symptoms, parenchymal symptoms, and extrapulmonary paragonimiasis. Tegumental spines, subtegumental cells, morphology of intestine, and ypical egg sections are features to identify the worm as Paragonimus. The dot immunogold filtration assay (DIGFA) is considered to be better than ELISA because it is easier, faster, and cheaper but exhibits comparable sensitivity and specificity.
