Liver FlukeSiriraj Hospital

This an explainer video about a liver fluke. What is a liver fluke? In this explainer video, you will learn and understand what liver fluke is in this explainer video. In the video it is shown that liver fluke is a fluke that has a complex life cycle and is of medical and veterinary importance. The adult lives within the liver tissues of a vertebrate, and the larva within one or more secondary hosts such as a snail or fish. It invades a fresh water fish. In the video it is shown that 70 percent of Thailand is infected by this parasite and causes cancer. It is shown in this explainer video how the liver fluke is very dangerous to our bodies and how it is formed. In Thailand, shown in the video, they wanted to reduce the live fluke and made a lot of programs in order to control the liver fluke. Checkout the video script and production files for this explainer video below.

Script & Storyboard

SCENE 1

The Opisthorchis viverrini or Liver fluke is a flatworm parasite which grows in the Bile Duct causing chronic inflammation and cancer. In the Northeastern provinces of Thailand at least 20% of the population is infected with the parasite which causes a very high number of Bile duct cancers. Worldwide Bile Duct cancers make up 15% of primary liver cancers compared to 90% in Khon Kaen.

SCENE 2

The Liver Fluke is contracted by eating raw freshwater fish and salt-fermented fish. The parasite’s larva attaches to the bile duct walls in the liver where it takes about 1 month for them to grow into adult worms which produce new eggs for at least 8 years. The eggs reach freshwater via the stool where they are eaten by freshwater snails. They hatch and reproduce asexually inside the snail before leaving it to seek out and invade the muscle tissue of a freshwater fish where it remains dormant until it is eaten raw.

SCENE 3

Several successful Liver Fluke programs have been run in Thailand, which include stool examinations and treating infected people with praziquantel to stop the production of new eggs, improving hygienic defecation to interrupt the disease’s transmission and promoting cooked fish dishes to prevent infection.

SCENE 4

Such programs have reduced national prevalence from 14% in 1980 to 8.7% in 2009 but they appear less effective in the poor Northeast where it has proven incredibly difficult to change the health behaviour of adults. That’s why we developed a data driven educational program that promotes cooked fish consumption and hygienic behaviours to their children instead.

SCENE 5

The program includes a Children’s book, songs and educational videos for elementary schools in Northeastern Thailand. These materials will be improved based on ongoing research inside and outside the classroom and they will be available for download from the initiative’s website.

SCENE 6

A pilot study has been conducted by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Higher Education, which showed that a large-scale educational initiative can have a significant behavioral effect, but to date no solution that couples education with a behavioral replacement has been delivered. There is an obligation on the part of the global public health community to curb the very serious chronic illnesses caused by the liver fluke, so please checkout our website and help us bring this very preventable disease to an end.

SCENE 7

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