Foodborne Trematodes
A group of diseases caused by flatworms found in contaminated water and raw meat.
Food borne trematode infections are fairly common worldwide in developing tropical countries with approximately 750 million people at risk. Though common, this illness tends to be neglected due to difficulty in diagnosis, especially because of lack of clinical resources in developing countries such as Africa and Central and South America.
Trematodes may cause multiple food borne diseases. Two of the most common are Clonorchiasis and Fascioliasis which can enter the body orally through ingestion of cow meat or raw fish that is infected by the trematodes. Re-infection is common, and both may become chronic conditions, so there must be effective and available treatment accessible to these countries in order for eradication to be possible.
