Title
Report of cases of human fascioliosis in the Specialized Children's Health Institute, Lima, Peru (1988'-2003)
Other title
Reporte de casos de Fasciolosis humana en el Instituto Especializado de Salud del Niño, Lima, Perú (1988-2003)
Date Issued
01 January 2005
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
review
Author(s)
Publisher(s)
Sociedad de GastroenterologÃa del Perú
Abstract
Human fascioliosis is one of the most important parasitic diseases in Peru, due to the high prevalence rates reported in the last few years, mainly in the Andean Trapeze. The most affected group is that of children and the clinical manifestations of the disease can be very varied. In this study we reported seven cases of human fascioliosis diagnosed in the Specialized Children's Health Institute (IESN) Lima, Peru, between 1988 and 2003. From 168 medical histories checked with the final diagnosis of parasitosis, 7 children (2 boys and 5 girls), between 2 and 14 years (average +/- DS: 8.52 +/- 1.43) were diagnosed with fascioliosis by a parasitic and/or serological examinations. Six of the seven cases came from cattle raising areas such as: Cajamarca, Ancash, Huancavelica and JunÃn. The most frequent clinical signs were prolonged fever (up to 42 days), hepatomegaly, moderate abdominal pain (right hypochondriac region and epigastrium), eosinophils count (between 132 and 8321/mm > or =), anemia (hematocrit up to 15%), jaundice and hypergammaglobulinemia. In some cases the diagnosis was difficult to reach with a delay between 1 and 24 weeks. It should be pointed out that one of these patients had hepatic cirrhosis diagnosed by anatomopathological investigations. Finally, we propose that in pediatric patients coming from endemic areas of animal fasciolosis who have prolonged fever, abdominal pain and hepatomegaly, should be considered suspicious and the infection of eliminated, to avoid hepatic damage caused by this parasite. We conclude that human fascioliosis must not be under-estimated as a secondary parasitic disease in patients coming from endemic areas in Peru.
Start page
198
End page
205
Volume
25
Issue
2
Language
Spanish
OCDE Knowledge area
ParasitologÃa
Ciencias de la salud
Enfermedades infecciosas
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-27144469110
PubMed ID
Source
Revista de gastroenterologÃa del Perú : órgano oficial de la Sociedad de GastroenterologÃa del Perú
ISSN of the container
10225129
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción CientÃfica
Scopus