[Studies on mode of human infection with Echinochasmus liliputanus]

Epidemiological survey and experimental studies on the mode of human infection with Echinochasmus liliputanus were carried out in Chenqiaozhou Village, Hexian County, Anhui Province in 1992. The results showed that humans could be infected through drinking unboiled water containing E.liliputanus cercaria or eating raw fish containing the metacercaria. The infection rates of E. liliputanus were 1.5% in the inhabitants who did not drink raw water, and 20.1% in those who used to drink raw water. It was only the cercaria, not the metacercaria that was detected in the water from ponds of this village. None of the investigated inhabitants ate uncooked fish. The results indicated that drinking raw water containing E.liliputanus cercaria was a major way through which a humans were infected and eating food containing the metacercaria was a minor mode of human infection.