Fascioliasis - Viet Nam

Date: Sat 12 Sep 2009
Source: Thanhnien News [edited]
<http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=3D8&newsid=3D52426>


Fascioliasis -- a disease caused by an infestation of parasitic liver
flukes -- is affecting more people in the central and central
highlands regions, with some 3000 cases recorded this year [2009],
according to the health ministry's Institute of Mariology,
Parasitology and Entomology in Quy Nhon.

Trieu Nguyen Trung, the institute's director general, said the latest
figure was 45 percent more than the number a year ago.

Fascioliasis is spread by cattle that are allowed to wander freely in
the region and disperse larvae into water environments. Since the
local people are in the habit of eating water vegetables and drinking
water without boiling it first, it's easy for them to be infected,
Trung explained.

It is estimated that 40 to 70 percent of local cattle are infected
with the disease, he said.