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Endemic alveolar echinococcosis in Southern Belgium ?Price: €10,00 |
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Until now,Belgium has been considered as a low-risk country
for alveolar echinococcosis. However it was recently demonstrated
by necropsy series that,in some parts of southern Belgium
(Wallonia),up to 51%of the red foxes (Vulpes vulpes)may be
infected by E.multilocaris. The authors,working in a university
hospital in southern Belgium,described in 2002 the first
autochthonous Belgian case of hepatic alveolar echinococcosis.
More importantly,in 2004,they diagnosed three other patients
with alveolar echinococcosis.One underwent surgical resection,
but two others had bilateral pulmonary involvement at time of def-
inite diagnosis.Palliative albendazole therapy was initiated.These
patients had been diagnosed with hepatic mass from unknown ori-
gin for several months.The previous experience with the first case
allowed the authors to consider and to confirm alveolar echinococ-
cosis diagnosis,made by pathology and/or serological tests and
imaging.These four patients with alveolar echinococcosis were liv-
ing either in the Liege or the Luxembourg province.Considering
the high prevalence of E.multilocaris infection of red foxes and the
recent increase of the fox population due to rabies vaccination in
southern Belgium,and also the presence of E.multilocaris infec-
tion of red foxes in northern Belgium,it is likely that not only
Wallonia,but also maybe the whole Belgium,may face endemic
alveolar echinococcosis in the next years. [Product Details...] |
Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica is indexed in NCBI/PubMed.
Printed by Universa Press, Wetteren, Belgium. ©vzw/asbl Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica
Printed by Universa Press, Wetteren, Belgium. ©vzw/asbl Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica