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CLONORCHIS SINENSIS
Becky Koehler
Emma Lee Shaler
WHAT IS IT?
Human liver fluke
 Found in bile duct and gall bladder
 Feeds on the bile
 Acquired by eating fresh water fish (raw, undercooked) containing fluke larvae

HOSTS
Definitive: Variety of mammals, including
humans, swine and rodents (zoonosis).
 1st Intermediate: Snails


2nd Intermediate: Freshwater fish
GEOGRAPHIC RANGE
Japan, China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia and
even some in the United States.
 Common among Asian immigrants.

MORPHOLOGY
Hermaphrodite
Unsegmented
Leaf-
shaped
Bilaterally symmetrical excretory system
Bear 2 suckers
Ventral
Oral
Oblong
shaped
Flat (platyhelminthes)
10-25 mm in length
CLINICAL SIGNS
Dwells in the bile ducts, causing inflammatory
reaction, hyperplasia and sometimes
carcinoma of bile ducts.
 Adult metacercariae is capable of consuming
all bile produced by the liver, therefore,
preventing the human host to digest (especially
fats).
 Obstruction of bile duct by parasite or eggs
leads to biliary obstruction and cholangitis.

CLINICAL SIGNS (CONT.)
Acute Abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea,
eosinophilia and loss of appetite
 Long-standing infections can be fatal
 Incubation period: viable; depends on the
number of worms present

DIAGNOSIS/TREATMENT
Microscopic demonstration of eggs in stool.
 Duodenal aspirate-most diagnostic method
 Adult fluke can be recovered during surgery.
 Treated with Praziquantel (drug of choice) or
albendazole.

INTERESTING FACTS
Believed to be the third most prevalent worm
parasite in the world!
 Currently infecting approximately 30,000,000
humans!!
 The adult liver fluke can live in the bile ducts
from anywhere between 30-40 years!

LIFE CYCLE
ADULT FLUKE