Experimental human infection with Fibricola cratera (Trematoda: Neodiplostomidae)

Fibricola cratera is a strigeoid trematode indigenous to North America that, heretofore, was known only to infect wild mammals. Herein, it is reported that an experimental inoculation of a human volunteer produced a patent infection that lasted 40 months. Symptoms of epigastric discomfort, loose stools and flatulence occurred over the first year of infection and ameliorated thereafter. Eggs per gram of stool were low (less than or equal to 2) throughout the course of infection and were not detected by the standard technique of formalin-ether concentration. To monitor infection, the entire stool sample was examined each month after sieving through No. 10 (pore size 2 mm) and 100 (pore size 145 microns) sieves and collecting eggs on a No. 325 (pore size 45 microns) sieve. This is the first report of a North American strigeoid trematode capable of maturing in a human and is only the second species of strigeoid known to do so. The other species is F. seoulensis which has been implicated in 26 human infections in Korea.