[Persistence of a paragonimosis focus in the department of Lakota, Côte d'Ivoire (West Africa)].

A field survey was carried out from March to August 2006 in three villages around the town of Lakota (Côte d'Ivoire) to verify the presence of paragonimosis in local people, wild vertebrates, and crabs. Out of the 92 patients who were recruited because of their chronic cough, haemoptysis and/or epilepsy, 3 had Paragonimus eggs in their stools and/or sputa. Examination of stools belonging to 24 wild mammals and a reptile revealed the presence of eggs in three civets (Viverra civetta) and a mongoose (Crossarchus obscurus). Six local crabs (out of the 30 Liberonautes latidactylus dissected) harboured Paragonimus metacercariae having low diameters (299 to 315 pm). The presence of several paragonimid species (at least 2) in the district of Lakota was hypothesized. However, the existence of quantitative variations in metacercarial diameters for the same species of Paragonimus cannot be excluded.