Miguel Cordero-Sánchez

Cystic echinococcosis in Spain: current situation and relevance for other endemic areas in Europe.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) remains an important health problem in many regions of the world, both where no control measures have been implemented, and where control programs have been incompletely successful with ensuing re-emergence of the disease. In Spain, official data on CE show an increase in the proportion of intermediate hosts with CE during the last few years, and autochthonous pediatric patients have been reported, a sign of active local transmission of disease. A similar picture emerges from data reported to the European Food Safety Authority by other European countries. Nevertheless, several crucial aspects related to CE that would help better understand and control the disease have not been tackled appropriately, in particular the emergence of infection in specific geographical areas. In this respect, while some data are missing, other data are conflicting because they come from different databases. We review the current situation of CE in Spain compared with areas in which similar problems in the CE field exist, and offer recommendations on how to overcome those limitations. Specifically, we believe that the introduction of national registries for CE with online data entry, following the example set by the European Registry for Alveolar Echinococcosis, would help streamline data collection on CE by eliminating the need for evaluating and integrating data from multiple regions, by avoiding duplication of data from patients who access several different health facilities over time, and by providing much needed clinical and epidemiological data that are currently accessible only to clinicians.

Study of Hydatidosis-Attributed Mortality in Endemic Area

Background Cystic hydatid disease is still an important health problem in European Mediterranean areas. In spite of being traditionally considered as a “benign” pathology, cystic echinococcosis is an important cause of morbidity in these areas. Nevertheless, there are few analyses of mortality attributed to human hydatidosis. Objective To describe the epidemiology, the mortality rate and the causes of mortality due to E. granulosus infection in an endemic area. Methodology A retrospective study followed up over a period of 14 years (1998–2011). Principal Findings Of the 567 patients diagnosed with hydatid disease over the period 1998–2011, eleven deaths directly related to hydatid disease complications were recorded. Ten patients (90.9%) died due to infectious complications and the remaining one (9.1%) died due to mechanical complications after a massive hemoptysis. We registered a case fatality rate of 1.94% and a mortality rate of 3.1 per 100.000 inhabitants. Conclusions Hydatidosis is still a frequent parasitic disease that causes a considerable mortality. The main causes of mortality in patients with hydatidosis are complications related to the rupture of CE cysts with supurative collangitis. Therefore, an expectant management can be dangerous and it must be only employed in well-selected patients.

Relevance of eosinophilia and hyper-IgE in immigrant children.

AbstractImmigrants from undeveloped countries are a growing problem in Europe. Spain has become a frequent destination for immigrants (20% of whom are children) because of its geographic location and its historic and cultural links with Africa and Latin America. Eosinophilia is frequent in adult immigrants, travelers and expatriates coming from tropical areas. However, there are few studies that focus on the incidence and causes of tropical eosinophilia and hyper-IgE in immigrant children.We evaluated, prospectively, the prevalence and causes of eosinophilia and hyper-immunoglobulin E (IgE) in 362 immigrant children coming from Sub-Saharan Africa, Northern Africa and Latin America to Salamanca, Spain, between January 2007 and December 2011.Absolute eosinophilia and hyper-IgE were present in 22.9% and 56.8% of the analyzed children, respectively. The most frequent causes of absolute eosinophilia were filariasis (52.6%), strongyloidiasis (46.8%) and schistosomiasis (28.9%). Filariasis (41.9%), strongyloidiasis (29.6%) and schistosomiasis (22.2%) were the most frequent causes of increased levels of IgE. The area under the ROC curve showed similar values between eosinophil count and IgE levels in the diagnosis of helminthiasis (69% [95% confidence interval (CI) 63%–74%] vs 67% [95% CI 60%–72%], P = 0.24). Eosinophilia and hyper-IgE have a high value as biomarkers of helminthiasis in children coming from tropical and subtropical areas.

Surveillance of Human Echinococcosis in Castilla-Leon (Spain) between 2000-2012.

Abstract Background Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is an important health problem in many areas of the world including the Mediterranean region. However, the real CE epidemiological situation is not well established. In fact, it is possible that CE is a re-emerging disease due to the weakness of current control programs. Methodology We performed a retrospective observational study of inpatients diagnosed with CE from January 2000 to December 2012 in the Western Spain Public Health-Care System. Principal findings During the study period, 5510 cases of CE were diagnosed and 3161 (57.4%) of the cases were males. The age mean and standard deviation were 67.8 ± 16.98 years old, respectively, and 634 patients (11.5%) were younger than 45 years old. A total of 1568 patients (28.5%) had CE as the primary diagnosis, and it was most frequently described in patients <45 years old. Futhermore, a secondary diagnosis of CE was usually found in patients >70 year old associated with other causes of comorbidity. The period incidence rate was 17 cases per 105 person-years and was significantly higher when compared to the incidence declared through the Notifiable Disease System (1.88 cases per 105 person-years; p<0.001). Conclusions CE in western Spain is an underestimated parasitic disease. It has an active transmission, with an occurrence in pediatric cases, but has decreased in the recent years. The systematic search of Hospital Discharge Records of the National Health System Register (HDR) may be a more accurate method than other methods for the estimation of the incidence of CE in endemic areas.

Safety of the Combined Use of Praziquantel and Albendazole in the Treatment of Human Hydatid Disease

There is still no well-established consensus about the clinical management of hydatidosis. Currently, surgery continues to be the first therapeutic option, although treatment with anti-parasitic drugs is indicated as an adjuvant to surgery to decrease the number of relapses and hydatid cyst size. When surgery is not possible, medical treatment is indicated. Traditionally, albendazole was used in monotherapy as the standard treatment. However, combined therapy with albendazole plus praziquantel appears to improve anti-parasitic effectiveness. To date, no safety studies focusing on such combined therapy have been published for the treatment of hydatidosis. In this work, we analyze the adverse effects seen in 57 patients diagnosed with hydatidosis who were treated with praziquantel plus albendazole combined therapy between 2006 and 2010.

Spontaneous Pneumothorax in Wegener's Granulomatosis: Case Report and Literature Review

BACKGROUND Pulmonary manifestations of Wegeners granulomatosis (WG) are present in 45% of cases at the onset of the disease, and they reach 85% of the patients during its evolution. Pulmonary affection usually starts with unspecific symptoms such as cough, dyspnea, hemoptysis, and pleuritis. Pulmonary nodules are 1 of the most common manifestations. The prevalence of pleural affection is 10 to 20%. However, spontaneous pneumothorax is extremely rare. Although its real incidence is unknown, according to different classic series, it ranges between 3 and 5% of the cases. OBJECTIVE To present a new case of spontaneous pneumothorax in a patient suffering WG and a brief review on this subject. METHODS We report our experience in a case of spontaneous pneumothorax due to WG. We also review the literature through a PubMed search between 1960 and 2010, using a broad range of keywords related to WG and spontaneous pneumothorax. Publications were evaluated for the demographic features of patients, manifestations of the disease, and outcome. RESULTS Despite the large prevalence of the respiratory involvement, spontaneous pneumothorax is extremely rare, with only 21 cases reported in the literature. CONCLUSION Pneumothorax is a rare complication in WG cases, without a clear pathogenic mechanism involved.

Disseminated infection due to Mycobacterium bovis after intravesical BCG instillation.

Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) instillation has been adopted for the treatment of patients with superficial bladder cancer. Severe adverse events due to local instillation of BCG are uncommon, with an overall rate of serious complications of less than 5%. We report the case of an immunocompetent adult patient with multi-system effects, namely pneumonitis, granulomatous hepatitis and meningitis, who responded well to standard treatment for Mycobacterium bovis. This case highlights the importance of a thorough assessment of this type of patient.

Imported transmissible diseases in minors coming to Spain from low-income areas

We prospectively studied the prevalence of imported transmissible diseases in 373 immigrant children and adolescents coming from Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and Latin America to Salamanca, Spain. The most frequent transmissible diseases in this group were latent tuberculosis (12.7%), chronic hepatitis B virus infection (4.2%), hepatitis C virus infection (2.3%), syphilis (1.5%) and human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 or 2 infections (1.4%). A total of 24.2% of patients had serologic profiles suggesting past hepatitis B virus infection. Anti-human immunodeficiency virus antibodies were not detected in any subject. Largely asymptomatic immigrant children show a high prevalence of communicable diseases. Thus, infectious disease screenings are highly advisable in immigrant children coming from low-income countries.

Pylephlebitis: incidence and prognosis in a tertiary hospital.

OBJECTIVES Septic thrombophlebitis of the portal vein or its branches, most often secondary to intra-abdominal infection is known as pylephlebitis. The frequency and the prognosis of this complication are unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the global and relative incidence of the most frequent intra-abdominal infections and the real prognosis of this disease. METHODS An observational retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital (University Hospital of Salamanca, Spain) from January 1999 to December 2008. RESULTS A total of 7796 patients with intra-abdominal infection were evaluated, of whom 13 (0.6%) had been diagnosed with pylephlebitis. Diverticulitis was the most frequent underlying process, followed by biliary infection. Early mortality was 23%. Survivors had no recurrences, but one of them developed portal cavernomatosis. CONCLUSIONS Pylephlebitis is a rare complication of intra-abdominal infection, with a high early mortality, but with a good prognosis for survivors.

Dysgeusia as an adverse reaction to praziquantel.

Praziquantel is an antiparasitic drug derived from pyrazinoisoquinoline that is used against trematodes and cestodes. Over the last few years, praziquantel has been combined with albendazole in the medical treatment of hydatidosis, in spite of the lack of controlled assays. We present two cases of dysgeusia associated with praziquantel. Dysgeusia is an unpleasant alteration of taste sensation, often with a metallic taste.