Khon Kaen suffers the most from opisthorchis and the youngest victim of liver flukes, who required Bt80,000 medical treatment, was only four years old.
Kittichai Trairatsirichai, a researcher at Khon Kaen University, said yesterday the university was working on "Lawa Model" research to reduce the incidence of the disease, which leads to cholangiocarcinoma, whose prevalence was very high in Ban Phai district's Kaeng Lawa area.
The study's first phase found that 10 per cent of 1,136 children, including the fouryearold, at nine schools in the area were inflicted with the disease. This was because the kids eat the same food as their parents, namely raw fish, and 70 per cent of Khao Na fish had opisthorchis.
About 28,000 people die from bile duct cancer induced by the flukes per year.
The "Lawa Model" would be made the centrepiece of the authorities' campaign against the disease and public health officials from 19 northeastern provinces early this month will visit Kaeng Lawa to learn what to do to lower the patient rate.