Advanced schistosomiasis reappeared after curing seemingly being cured for over 20 years and without known history of reexposure to Schistosoma japonicum

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is an intravascular disease caused by parasitic trematode worms of the genus Schistosoma. It is estimated that more than 200 million people are infected in the world, and 800 million are at risk of infection. The main lesions are due to eggs trapping in tissue which can lead a series of pathogenic effect relative to immune response. Therefore, killing and eradicating eggs in tissue is often the target to treat schistosomiasis. Here, we report 75 patients who being cured for over 20 years developed into advanced schistosomiasis. A total of 90 patients with a diagnosis of schistosomiasis in various periods were enrolled. Of them, all patients have liver fibrosis, splenectomy was performed in 48.0 %, 42.7 % have splenomegaly, and 30.0 % have portal hypertension. No patients were infected with HBV. Moreover, all patients have not been to Schistosoma-endemic regions. Our results showed that there are other factors leading to schistosomiasis progress besides eggs as well as Schistosoma mansoni.