Varied presentations of idiopathic abdominal echinococossis: Two cases with literature review

• Published in: Annals of tropical medicine and public health 2010-01, Vol.3 (1), p.14
• Main Authors: Aggarwal, Gaurav, Tirkey, Sundeep, Jain, Devendra, Lubana, Parvinder, Moses, Sonia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abdomen; Care and treatment; Case studies; Diagnosis; Echinococcosis; Parasitic diseases; Pathology; Patient outcomes; Risk factors; Worms
• ISSN: 1755-6783; 0974-6005
• DOI: 10.4103/1755-6783.76178

Hydatid disease or echinococcosis is an endemic disease in cattle grazing and developing areas, particularly Australia, New-Zealand, Middle East, India, Africa, South America, and Turkey. It is a parasitic infection caused by the cestode Echinoccocus granulosus. Dogs are definitive hosts, and adult worms are found in their small intestine. Humans, the accidental intermediate hosts, get infected either by contact with the definitive host or by consuming vegetables and water contaminated with the hydatid ova. In humans, the hydatid disease commonly involves the liver (75%) and the lungs (15%). Despite the abdomen bearing the brunt of this disease entity, it is an extreme rarity to encounter its multivariate presentation in two pure vegetarian, non-sheep rearing, and economically sound individuals, from an urban area. We report two such cases who presented to us in the Emergency Department, within a short span of each other (one week), along with the relevant literature review.