22
病
從口入
謝 立
（內科教授）
Xie Li
SAVOURING CRAYFISH:
BEWARE OF THE LUNG
FLUKE INFECTION
Despite their good taste,
undercooked fresh water crayfish
and crabs (or "drunken crabs")
may be infested by lung fluke
(Paragonimus westermani) cysts
waiting for an "intermediate host"
- once the walls of the cysts are
dissolved by our stomach acid,
they penetrate through our intes-
tinal walls, enter the peritoneum
of our abdominal cavity, go
through our diaphragm to arrive
at our lungs (rarely, blood spread
to the brains: tumour-like syn-
dromes of headache, paralysis
and convulsion) to mature into
egg-shaped adult flukes that, in
turn, lay eggs, being passed on
in our sputum, or, even through
our bowels (should sputum be
swallowed). The eggs hatch in
fresh water and penetrate a suit-
able species of snails - another
"intermediate host", become lar-
vae that come out to invade, e.g.,
a fresh water crayfish: up to 1,100
cysts in 1 crayfish, all ready for
our intestines to complete their life
cycle.Infected patients present as
cough with thick, rusty sputum,
chest pain, etc.;radiology features
are characteristic.Remember, up
to 23 of our Provinces are affected
- hard boiling of your shellfish is
mandatory; not even pickling nor
rice-wine immersion would ever
kill their parasites!
!"#$%&'(
位於市中心的這條大街，大大小小的餐館、飯店鱗次櫛
比，多家打出誘人的特色菜“ 十三香小龍蝦”，聳恿食
客品嘗。街頭還出現多家小龍蝦專賣店,大肆兜售。小龍蝦，
這個以往名不見經傳的水產品，近年來忽然成為一種時尚食
品，光顧人們的餐桌,以味道鮮美、蝦黃酷似蟹黃而獲得消費
者青睞，爭相品嘗。
小龍蝦學名為喇蛄
這種美其名曰小龍蝦的水產品，不同于盛產於太平洋和臺灣
海峽的名貴海鮮大龍蝦，屬於淡水甲殼類小動物，其實它的正式
名稱（學名）為喇蛄，不瞭解其底細、愛嚐新鮮的美食家，十有八
九不知道這種小動物內藏兇險，它是人體可怕的寄生蟲肺吸蟲的
“中間宿主”（另有石蟹也是肺吸蟲的“中間宿主”）。
可怕的肺吸蟲鑽入人體
肺吸蟲病是一種可怕的人體寄生蟲病，歷來在東南亞各國流
行，我國有23個省份有肺吸蟲病的病例報告，其中以遼寧、吉
