i think betty is infected with parasite... no, perhaps i ought to rephrase.. no, actually that's not even the right sentence. betty IS infected. i saw the flukes wriggling out of her butt! ewwWWWwWWw~~~~~~~~~~~

poor thing... i recognized the flukes right away when i saw them, we studied about them last year in parasitology. from the size of them, they seem to be from O. felineus species.

opisthorchis felineus

phylum = plathelminthes
class = trematoda
genus = opisthorchis
species = o. felineus

flukes are elongated, flat, leaf-shaped worms.


O. felineus is prevalent in cats, dogs, foxes and hogs in eastern and southeastern europe and asiatic areas of the ussr. it is also found in humans.

they are 7 - 12 mm x 1.5 - 3 mm. habitat is the distal bile ducts, ocassionally the pancreatic duct. life span is up to several years. cats appear to be the most important reservoir hosts in highly endemic areas.

may cause enlargement of liver and the liver may become tender in humans. apart from that, eosinophilia, fibrosis, and destruction of hepatic parenchyma may also occur.

what a scary thing. damn.. i'm supposed to study for physiology test tomorrow and now i'm already distracted! there must be so many of them inside betty that they wriggle out at the rate of 4 - 5 flukes in 5 minutes!