Edible mollusc, the intermediate host of helminths in Khon Kaen Province, Thailand.

Abstract

The local people in the northeast provinces of Thailand are found of cansuming many kinds of fresh water snails.  The villagers obtain the snails from natural sources by themselves or buy it rom the markets.

Pila snails, Pila polita, Pila ampullacea; viviparus snails, Trochotaia trochoides, filopaludina cambodjensis, Filopaludina sumatrensis polygramma; clams, Corbicula moreletina, Scabies crispata and Ensidens ingallisianus are widely commercial mollusc.  Sampling of these fresh water snails were carried out at the provincial markets and natural sources.

Identification of snails; pepsin digestion; oral inoculation to experimental hamsters had been done in the laboratory.  Experimented hamsters were sacrificed.  Stained parasites were indentified as Echinostoma malayanum, Echinostoma ilocanum and Angiostrongylus cantonensis larvae

The habit of eating improerly cooked Pila snails indicates that Pila snails act as the carrier of parasitic infection in Thailand.