The first human case of Diplogonoporus balaenopterae infection is reported in Korea. The patient was a 41-year old male who passed a part of cestode strobila, about 1 m long, spontaneously in his stool. He used to eat raw marine fish when he drank alcohol. The worm was identified as D. balaenopterae after morhological observations and literature review. Results of laboratory examination were within normal limits except for slight eosinophilia (6%) and extraordinarily high serum Ig E level (10,182 IU/ml).

Geranium thunbergii is a perennial plant commonly used as an oriental medicine for prevention of diarrhea, constipation, and gastrointestinal disorders. However, its anti-inflammatory effect has not been evaluated thus far. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of G. thunbergii. In this study, G. thunbergii extracted with methanol; this methanol extract was further partitioned using various solvents, and G. thunbergii ethyl acetate fraction (GTEF) was obtained. To determine the anti-inflammatory activity of G. thunbergii, the effects of GTEF on nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells were evaluated. GTEF suppressed NO production in a dose-dependent manner without any toxic effects. In addition, western blotting was performed to examine the effect of GTEF on expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. These results suggest that GTEF as a phytoextract may be useful for the prevention or treatment of inflammation.