Metagonimus

A genus of flukes (superfamily Heterophyundea) that encyst on fish and infect various fish-eating animals, including humans. M. yokogawai, an intestinal fluke widely distributed in the Far East and the Balkans and one of the smallest (1–2.5 mm) flukes infecting humans, is passed from Semisulcospira snails to cyprinoid fish and then to humans and other fish-eating mammals and birds. [meta- + G. gonimos, productive]

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Meta·gon·i·mus -'gän-ə-məs n a genus of small intestinal flukes (family Heterophyidae) that includes one (M. yokogawai) common in humans, dogs, and cats in parts of eastern Asia as a result of the eating of raw fish containing the larva

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n.

a genus of small flukes, usually less than 3 mm in length, that are common as parasites of dogs and cats in the Far East, N Siberia, and the Balkan States. Adult flukes of M. yokogawai occasionally infect the human duodenum if undercooked fish (the intermediate host) is eaten. They may cause inflammation and some ulceration of the intestinal lining, which produces a mild diarrhoea. Flukes can be easily removed with tetrachloroethylene.

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Meta·gon·i·mus (met″ə-gonґĭ-məs) [meta- + Gr. gonimos productive] a genus of flukes of the family Heterophyidae. M. yokogaґwai (M. ovaґtus) is found in the small intestines of mammals in East Asia, Indonesia, Israel, and the Balkans.