VietNamNet Bridge - After more than eight years of study, Tran Huy Khoa has successfully produced dong trung ha thao (caterpillar fungus or Ophiocordyceps sinensis) in Vietnam.

Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a fungus that parasitizes larvae of ghost moths and produces a fruiting body valued as an herbal remedy. The fungus germinates in the living larva, kills it, and then the stalk-like fruiting body emerges from the corpse.

O. sinensis is known in the West as a medicinal mushroom, and its use has a long history in traditional Chinese medicine. The hand-collected fungus-caterpillar combination is valued by herbalists as a status symbol; it is used as an aphrodisiac and treatment for ailments such as fatigue and cancer, although such use is mainly based on traditional Chinese medicine and anecdotal evidence.

In the world, caterpillar fungus exploited in the wild is extremely rare, mainly at an altitude of 3,200 meters of the Himalayas and Tibet. Each year the output is only 80kg so the price is very high, from $60,000 to $80,000 per kilo. This fungus is not yet cultivated commercially.

Khoa’s enterprise is among several firms in Vietnam that are able to produce caterpillar fungus in Vietnam. Khoa’s company was initially a group of social activities who majored in biological research and were keen to care for poor patients, seriously ill patients and HIV carriers.

Realizing that many diseases are derived from food and habitat, the group studied how to cultivate the precious medicine so that Vietnamese people could have easier access to the product.

Khoa, the team leader, spent more than eight years travelling to many Asian countries to study. He went to the Himalayas to find ways to take the fungus gene to Vietnam.

It was a hard process to produce caterpillar fungus in an artificial environment. "Appropriate ecology is the essential factor, but it is more important to create the habitat for the fungus that is similar to that of the worms on the snow mountain. After eight years of research and hundreds of failed attempts, finally I could create the 'worm' from the materials available in Vietnam, including rare things such as swallow’s nests," Khoa shared.

The whole processes must be completely sterile.

The company has a professional crew, but Khoa takes care of all the important stages himself.