Paragonimus

A genus of lung flukes, parasitic in humans and a wide variety of mammals, that feed upon crustacea carrying the metacercariae. [para- + G. gonimos, with generative power]

- P. kellicotti a species of fluke prevalent in certain wild animals, such as raccoons, and occurring in dogs, in the Great Lakes region of the U.S.; it is morphologically similar to P. westermani.

- P. ringeri SYN: P. westermani.

- P. westermani the bronchial or lung fluke; a species that causes paragonimiasis, found chiefly in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, the Philippines, and Thailand; eggs are coughed up in sputum or swallowed and passed in the feces; miracidia invade Melania snails, and produce large numbers of stumpy-tailed cercariae that leave the snail and crawl into muscles and viscera of crayfish or crabs and encyst; in humans the excysted worms invade the wall of the gut and migrate through the diaphragm into the lungs; the developing parasites cause an intense inflammatory reaction and eventually induce fibrous-walled nodules that usually contain a pair of adult worms, along with exudate, eggs, and remains of red blood cells; the fibroparasitic nodules may become contiguous and form multiloculated cystlike structures; in some instances, the flukes involve the brain, liver, peritoneum, intestine, or skin. SYN: P. ringeri.

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Par·a·gon·i·mus .par-ə-'gän-ə-məs n a genus of digenetic trematodes of the family Troglotrematidae comprising forms normally parasitic in the lungs of mammals including humans

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n.

a genus of large tropical parasitic fluke that are particularly prevalent in the Far East. The adults of P. westermani live in the human lungs, where they cause destruction and bleeding of the tissues (see paragonimiasis). However, they may also be found in other organs of the body. Eggs are passed out in the sputum and the larvae undergo their development in two other hosts, a snail and a crab.

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Par·a·gon·i·mus (par″ə-gonґĭ-məs) [para- + Gr. gonimos productive; having generative power] a genus of flukes of the family Troglotrematidae; they have two invertebrate hosts, the first a snail, such as Semisulcospira, and the second a crab or crayfish, such as Potamon or Eriocheir.