Although there is a view that he contracted the Chinese Liver Fluke from eating his favorite mud snails, the mini mud snails that are the initial intermediary host are not eaten by people, and since the parasite usually enters the human body through the eating of raw Koi (the secondary intermediary host), it is presumed there was another source of infection.
肝吸虫は魯山人の好んだタニシから寄生したとする論説もあるが、肝吸虫の第一中間宿主となるマメタニシは人間の食用にならず、なおかつヒトへの感染は第二中間宿主のコイ科魚類の生食から起こることから、別の感染経路と推定されている。