Clinical analysis of 25 sparganosis cases

OBJECTIVE To analyse the clinical features of sparganosis patients and improve cognition in the disease. METHODS The epidemic data, clinical manifestations, auxiliary examinations, diagnosis and treatments of 25 sparganosis patients in the hospital were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS Among the 23 patients with definite epidemiological data , 22 cases were food-borne, one case of contact infection. According to the clinical manifestation, there were 14 cases of central nervous system (CNS) sparganosis, 7 cases of cutaneous sparganosis, 3 cases of visceral sparganosis and 1 case of ocular sparganosis. Eosinophilia in peripheral blood was found in 4 cases including the 3 cases of visceral sparganosis. 22 patients were diagnosed by serologic IgG antibody test. MRI showed positive finding in all CNS sparganosis patients. 11 cases received surgical excision or biopsy, worms were found in 8 cases. 80% of the cases were once misdiagnosed by other disorders. 18 patients were cured and 7 alleviated after treatment. CONCLUSION Sparganosis is mostly a food-borne infection, more involving central nervous system. Serologic test is important for diagnosis, and eosinophilia is uncommon.