A Case of Sporadic Echinococcus granulosus Infection Originary from Southern Germany

Abstract

A 67-year-old woman with cystic echinococcosis (CE) is presented. She had complained of upper abdominal discomfort due to large hepatic cysts. These cysts showed no typical infrastructure characteristic for CE and she had never left the rural areas of southern Germany. Most remarkably, this area is highly endemic for alveolar echinococcosis, caused by Echinococcus multilocularis, but only sporadic cases of CE have been described. Due to the discrepancy between positive Echinococcus serology, atypical morphology and residency in an area non-endemic for Echinococcus granulosus, diagnostic puncture was performed with albendazole coverage. Puncture was complicated by anaphylaxis, from which the patient recovered without sequelae. The diagnosis of CE was highly likely due to the combination of positive serology with post puncture anaphylaxis, increasing antibody titers and eosinophilia. Retrospectively, the cysts had initially corresponded to the WHO stage CE 1. The patient was treated with albendazole for 15 weeks. Under treatment, the parasitic membrane detached from the cyst wall, revealing characteristic morphology for CE, now corresponding to the WHO stage CE 3. The patient remained asymptomatic during follow-up visits.