Human Hydatid disease: analysis of of San Roque Hospital, Códoba capital, 2004-2019.

Abstract

Hydatid disease is a zoonosis caused by the larval stage of cestodes Echinococcus granulosus, cosmopolitan and endemic in South America, mainly affecting Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. In humans (accidental hosts), the hexacanth embryos released from ingested eggs penetrate the intestinal wall to subsequently invade blood/lympathic vessels, develop into a hydatid cyst in different organs (chiefly the liver and lungs), and thus, according to its size and location, cause signs and symptoms like hepatomegaly,  cough,  hemoptysis, dyspnea, vomiting,  cephalea,  sensory/motor affections, coma, spontaneous fracture.

The aim of this study is to determine the casuistry in hydatid disease through a retrospective study of the population who attended San Roque hospital (SRH) from 2004 to May, 2019.

For that,  we revised each patient's report and a description of the variables to analyze was carried out based on sex (M or F), age (10-year ranges, from 15 to 75), and the cyst's location.

Out of 64 patients, 33 were female (F) and 31 male (M). 14 patients were in the 46-55 age range (21,8%) and 13 were in the 15-25 age range (20,3%), these being the most prevalent.  The most frequent locations were the hepatic and pulmonary, with 17 (26,5%) and 13 (20,3%) cases respectively.

These data are similar to that of other studies describing the liver and lungs as the most frequently affected organs, the distribution of cases remained at around 50% in both male and female patients and relatively uniform between the ages of 15 and 75.  It should be noted that, when faced with the aforementioned signs and symptoms, taking the mainly affected tissues and endemic areas into account is of great importance in order to suspect this disease, as it is approaching to it not only by means of therapeutic measures but also preventive ones, like sanitary education, deworming of canids and veterinary livestock inspection.