Clonorchis

MICROBIOLOGY

• The trematode parasite is also called Chinese or oriental liver fluke [Fig 1].
  • Clonorchis sinensis
• Lifecycle [Fig 2]: snails and freshwater shrimp are intermediary hosts that ingest embryonated eggs that hatch and infect freshwater fish. Ingestion of fish with excysts hatch in the duodenum with the migration of flukes (10-25 mm x 1.5-4.0 mm) into the bile tract and gallbladder.
  • Freshwater cyprinoid fish (e.g., carps, loaches and suckers) are definitive hosts, as are humans for adults in the biliary system.
  • The lifecycle takes 3 months in humans for eggs to pass.