Abstract:
Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a cosmopolitan parasitic disease caused by Echinococcus granulosus. We aimed to assess the epidemiological aspects of the disease in hospitalized children from Western Romania, a well-known endemic area for CE. We retrospectively investigated the medical records of children hospitalized between 1998 and 2022. A total of 144 patients were included, and 58.3% were from rural areas. The number of cases increased with age, from 9% in the age group 3-5 years to 59.7% in the age group 11-17 years. The liver was more frequently affected (65.3%), and a significant association between gender and the affected organ was noted; liver cysts were more frequently diagnosed in girls, while lung cysts were recorded mostly in boys. Complications were more frequently reported in patients with pulmonary CE compared to hepatic CE (p = 0.04). Boys had more complications (16/23, 69.6%) compared to girls (7/23, 30.4%) (p = 0.03). A third of the children were hospitalized for more than 14 days, and multiple hospitalizations were recorded in 31.3% of the patients. This paper provides new insights into the epidemiologic features of cystic echinococcosis in children from Western Romania. Our findings indicate that exposure to the parasite starts in childhood, and the rate of hospitalization increases with age. Public health strategies should be implemented and permanently improved in order to lower the prevalence of CE in children.
摘要:
囊性包虫病(CE)是由细粒棘球蚴引起的世界性寄生虫病。我们旨在评估来自罗马尼亚西部的住院儿童的疾病的流行病学方面,一个著名的地方为CE。我们回顾性调查了1998年至2022年住院儿童的病历。共纳入144名患者,58.3%来自农村。病例数随着年龄的增长而增加,从3-5岁年龄组的9%到11-17岁年龄组的59.7%。肝脏受影响的频率更高(65.3%),注意到性别与受影响器官之间存在显着关联;肝囊肿在女孩中更常见,而肺囊肿主要记录在男孩中。与肝CE相比,肺CE患者的并发症发生率更高(p=0.04)。与女孩(7/23,30.4%)相比,男孩的并发症更多(16/23,69.6%)(p=0.03)。三分之一的孩子住院超过14天,31.3%的患者多次住院.本文为罗马尼亚西部儿童囊性包虫病的流行病学特征提供了新的见解。我们的研究结果表明,接触寄生虫始于童年时期,住院率随年龄增长而增加。应实施并永久改善公共卫生策略,以降低儿童CE的患病率。