Parasitosis febriles

Abstract

Although there are many parasitic infections that can affect human beings, parasitoses that present with fever are rarer and can be summarised as 7 parasites: Plasmodium spp., Leishmania spp., Babesia spp., Entamoeba histolytica, Toxoplasma gondii, Trichinella spiralis and Schistosoma spp.. Other protozoa and helminths can cause fever, but they are less common in our environment (acute Trypanosoma spp. infections). Malaria must be ruled out in any patient who has recently been to a malaria-affected area. Therefore, the presence of acute fever in a traveller who has come from any of these areas would indicate malaria unless there is evidence to the contrary. Leishmaniasis, by contrast, is an imported and endemic infection in the Mediterranean basin; its presentation is subacute, as a prolonged febrile syndrome. Babesiosis is extremely rare in our environment, as are non-imported trichinosis or amebiasis. Acute infection with schistosomiasis presents with fever (Katayama fever) and is only epidemiologically possible in countries where the vector (snail) is present.