Disseminated Hydatid Disease in a Child

Abstract

Hydatid disease is a unique parasitic disease that is endemic in many parts of the world. Hydatid disease can occur almost anywhere in the body and demonstrates a variety of imaging features that vary according to growth stage, associated complications, and affected tissue. The two main types of hydatid disease are caused by Echinococcus granulosus and Echinococcus multilocularis. The most common organ affected by hydatid disease is the liver, followed by the lungs, and the two organs are affected simultaneously in about 5 – 13 % of cases [5]. The involvement of multiple sites in a young child with enormous cysts has not been previously reported. Here, we present a 3-year-old patient with multifocal involvement. The rarity of this case is the huge size of the cysts, which developed within a short span of life without any symptomatology.