A Human Case of Plagiorchis vespertilionis (Digenea: Plagiorchiidae) Infection in the Republic of Korea

Plagiorchis vespertilionis (Digenea: Plagiorchiidae) is generally considered a bat parasite, but here it is reported for the first time in a human. The patient was a 34-yr-old male who lived in a coastal village of Haenam-gun (county), Jeollanam-do (province), Republic of Korea. Only 1 worm, 2.6 mm long and 0.7 mm wide, was recovered after praziquantel treatment and purging with magnesium salts. The fluke was characterized by a large body size, a sucker ratio of 1:1, a straight cirrus organ, a short distance between the ventral sucker and ovary, well-developed vitellaria, a uterus with descending and ascending loops, and fully developed eggs with an average size of 32.5 × 17.5 μm. The patient had habitually eaten the raw flesh of snakehead mullet and gobies that had been caught near his village. The present case represents the first record of a human P. vespertilionis infection.