Dear Editor,
Parasitic infestation is a common public health in developing country. In tropical country, there is a high incidence of intestinal parasitic disease. In Indochina, the highest incidence of opisthorchiasis is reported (1). This infection is associated with cholangiocarcinogensis and becomes important local problem. The interrelationship between opisthorchiasis and other infection is an interesting issue.Here, the authors would like to share preliminary data from the area with extremely high incidence of opisthorchiasis, Thailand. The local data showed that there is a lower incidence of Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in the area with higher prevalence of opisihorchiasis (Table 1). The clinical relationship between parasitic disease and COVID-19 is little mentioned. In this report, the observation trend is interesting. An underlying pathophysiological process that might cause protective effect against active severe COVID-19 in opisthorchiasis is thioredoxin reductase-1 generating from parasite (2). This bioselenoprotien has an anti-inflammatory effect and is useful for survival of virus in biliary tract (2) and the anti-inflammatory property might be protective against pathological inflammation process in COVID-19.
Keywords: Opisthorchiasis, COVID-19, incidence
Anahtar Kelimeler: Opisthorchiasis, COVID-19, incidence
* Ethics
Peer-review: Internally peer-reviewed.
* Authorship Contributions
Surgical and Medical Practices: R.M., V.W., Concept: R.M., V.W., Design: R.M., V.W., Data Collection or Processing: R.M., V.W., Analysis or Interpretation: R.M., V.W., Literature Search: R.M., V.W., Writing: R.M., V.W.
Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.
Financial Disclosure: The authors declared that this study received no financial support.
