Investigation of an outbreak of paragonimiasis caused by eating pickled crabs

In October 2013, an outbreak of paragonimiasis caused by eating preserved crabs (Potamon) occurred in Songyang county, Zhejiang province. The major manifestations of the cases included cough, expectoration, chest pain and abdominal pain. Blood samples were collected from 13 people eating preserved crabs to detect antibodies to paragonimiasis with DIGFA, 7 people were positive (53.8%). Meanwhile, metacercariea of Paragonimus westermani were detected in 8 out of 11 crabs which were caught from the same section of a stream with the preserved crabs, the positive rate was 72.7%. It was confirmed that it was an outbreak of paragonimiasis based on the medical history, clinical symptoms and laboratory test Results of the cases.