HONG KONG (Reuters) – Health authorities in northeast Thailand plan to screen people for fluke worms to detect early signs of bile duct cancer, a deadly disease linked to eating uncooked freshwater fish.
Rivers in northeast Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Koreas and China are infested with the tiny parasitic worms which find their way into the human body when seafood is eaten raw.
According to the World Health Organization, 67 million people are at risk of this worm and 9 million are infected in Cambodia, Laos and the northeastern parts of Thailand and Vietnam.
Most of the infected people are men and they can develop bile duct cancer by the time they are 40 or 50.
“Everyone above 30 years of age will get an annual stool examination to screen (for fluke eggs). Those who are infected will be treated (with drugs),” said Pongsadhorn Pokpermdee, health economist and public health deputy for Nongbualanpoo
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