Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
J Infect Dis. 2023 Jan 11;227(2):183-192. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiac413.
We document that 3 human-infectious trematodes and their introduced first intermediate host snail (Melanoides tuberculata) are widespread throughout southern California. We surveyed 41 fishing localities, 19 of which harbored snails infected with zoonotic trematodes. Two of the parasites, Haplorchis pumilio and Centrocestus formosanus, are fishborne intestinal trematodes recognized as being important human pathogens in other areas of the world; the third, Philophthalmus gralli, can infect the human eye. An additional 5 species detected infecting M. tuberculata are likely of little direct threat to people; however, they may be recently introduced to the Americas, highlighting the risk that additional pathogenic trematodes transmitted by the snail in its native range could be introduced to the United States. The current, possible human-infection risk in California clarifies the need to consider the introduced snail and its parasites from a public health perspective anywhere in the United States the snail has been introduced.
我们记录到，3 种可感染人类的吸虫及其引入的第一中间宿主蜗牛（M. tuberculata）广泛分布于加利福尼亚州南部。我们调查了 41 个钓鱼点，其中 19 个有感染了人畜共患吸虫的蜗牛。这两种寄生虫，Haplorchis pumilio 和 Centrocestus formosanus，是鱼类肠道吸虫，在世界其他地区被认为是重要的人类病原体；第三种寄生虫，Philophthalmus gralli，可以感染人的眼睛。另外检测到的 5 种感染 M. tuberculata 的寄生虫可能对人类直接威胁不大；然而，它们可能是最近被引入美洲的，这突出了一个风险，即在其原生范围内由蜗牛传播的其他致病性吸虫可能会被引入美国。目前加利福尼亚州可能存在的人类感染风险，凸显了在美国任何引入了这种蜗牛的地区，都需要从公共卫生的角度来考虑引入的蜗牛及其寄生虫。
