The proposed project has the following principal objectives:

1. To perform a parasitological screening of fish in Taiwan with emphasis on the species being commonly eaten raw or undercooked that may serve as the main sources of human infection.
2. Based on a large-scale survey of potential fish intermediate hosts of fish-borne helminths, to map the present occurrence, host spectrum and distribution of causative agents of fish-borne parasitic diseases.
3. To provide baseline for reliable diagnostics, species delimitation and epidemiological studies of these potential human-parasites using molecular, cytogenetic, and morphological approaches.
4. On the basis of the new information of the actual occurrence of caustative agents of fish-borne helminthoses, to propose prophylactic and food safety measures to decrease the risk of human infection with these (re-)emerging zoonotic diseases.

Based on the objectives listed above, the following main hypotheses/research questions will be tested:

1. What is the current occurrence of infective stages of fish-borne parasites in fish from Taiwan?
2. Does the matacercariae of small liver fluke, Clonorchis sinensis, still occur to some fresh-water fishes in Taiwan?
3. Do cyprinid fish represent the most important second intermediate hosts of small intestinal flukes (e.g., Metagonimus spp.)?
4.  Is diphyllobothriosis emergent in Taiwan and if so which species of fishes are the predominant sources to transmit this parasitic infection in Taiwan?
5. Which fish-borne diseases are actually the most frequent in humans in Slovakia and Taiwan?