Epidemiological investigation of Clonorchis sinensis infection in freshwater fishes in the Pearl River Delta.

Pearl River Delta region is a high clonorchiasis-endemic area in China. However, no complete epidemiological data exist regarding its infection in freshwater fishes, an important epidemic factor for Clonorchis sinensis. The present study collected freshwater fishes and shrimps from 32 sites of nine cities in the Pearl River Delta, and the encysted metacercariae of C. sinensis were detected by digesting these specimens with artificial gastric juice. The mean infection rate of freshwater fishes was 37.09% (2,160/5,824) with a mean number of 14.269 encysted metacercariae in every infected fish and 0.460 encysted metacercariae in every gram of fish meat. Of these freshwater fishes, 5,219 were domesticated, and the infection rate was 36.69% with a mean number of 10.743 encysted metacercariae in every infected fish and 0.312 encysted metacercariae in every gram of fish meat; the other 605 were wild, and the infection rate was 40.50% with a mean number of 41.829 encysted metacercariae in every infected fish and 8.812 encysted metacercariae in every gram of fish meat. A total of 228 shrimps were examined, and 3.07% of them were infected with a mean number of 1.00 encysted metacercariae in every infected shrimp. Pseudorasbora parva and Ctenopharyngodon idellus had the highest infection rate and degree of infection in the fishes studied. The results demonstrated a high incidence of C. sinensis infection in freshwater fishes and shrimps within Pearl River Delta region and a great difference in the infection rate among different collection sites and different fish species.