Emerging and Reemerging Parasitic Diseases in Taiwan: A Retrospective Study of Clinical Case Reports in 2001~2018

Abstract

Emerging and re-emerging parasitic diseases can cause significant economic burdens at national and global levels. However, governments often underestimate or ignore these diseases, especially in developed countries. This retrospective, case-oriented study analyzed parasitic diseases reported in Taiwan between 2001 and 2018. One hundred and thirty-two eligible clinical profiles of Taiwanese patients obtained from the NCBI, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science databases and local journals according to age, sex, source of infection, symptoms, risk factors, and geographical regions were analyzed. The analysis results showed that the number/frequency of cases caused by nematodes (46.97%) or protozoa (37.88%) was significantly higher than that of trematodes (9.85%) or cestodes (5.30%) (p p p p p < 0.001). The present study showed that emerging/reemerging parasitic infections continue to be of great concern to the lives and health of Taiwanese citizens and, if ignored, will threaten the health of the Taiwanese people; therefore, the delineation of preventive measures by health authorities is urgently warranted.

Keywords

• parasites
• retrospective study
• neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)
• Taiwan
• global health