Korean J Parasitol.  2019 Aug;57(4):429-434. 10.3347/kjp.2019.57.4.429.

An Imported Case of Disseminated Echinococcosis in Korea

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul 03080, Korea. zeptemiger@hanmail.net
  • 2Department of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, and Institute of Endemic Diseases, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul 03080, Korea.

Abstract

A complicated case of echinococcosis with multiple organ involvement is reported in a 53-year-old businessman who frequently traveled overseas, including China, Russia, and Kazakhstan from 2001 to 2007. The patient was first diagnosed with a large liver cyst during a screening abdomen ultrasonography in 2011, but he did not follow up on the lesion afterwards. Six years later, dizziness, dysarthria, and cough developed, and cystic lesions were found in the brain, liver and lungs. The clinical course was complicated when the patient went through multiple surgeries and inadequate treatment with a short duration of albendazole without a definite diagnosis. The patient visited our hospital for the first time in August 2018 due to worsening symptoms; he was finally diagnosed with echinococcosis using imaging and serologic criteria. He is now on prolonged albendazole treatment (400 mg twice a day) with gradual clinical and radiological improvement. A high index of suspicion is warranted to early diagnose echinococcosis in a patient with a travel history to endemic areas of echinococcosis.

Keyword

Echinococcosis; hydatid cyst; disseminated; intracranial

MeSH Terms

Abdomen
Albendazole
Brain
China
Cough
Diagnosis
Dizziness
Dysarthria
Echinococcosis*
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Kazakhstan
Korea*
Liver
Lung
Mass Screening
Middle Aged
Russia
Ultrasonography
Albendazole
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