CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CYSTIC ECHINOCOCCOSIS IN CHILDREN FROM AT A TERTIARY CENTER IN PERU

Abstract

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) in children is a public health problem. To describe the clinical and epidemio-logical profile of CE, we reviewed the records of 55 children admitted to our institution with a confirmed diagnosis of CE between 2017-2019, analyzing demographic data, clinical manifestations, and treatment. Male sex was 61,8% (34/55), median age was 9,25+2,79 years; 16,4% had previous CE diagnosis, and 50,9% had contact with dogs. The median time of illness was 2 months. 65,5% had hepatic involvement, 56,4% had pulmonary involvement, and 21,8% had both hepatic and pulmonary involvement. The most frequent symptoms were abdominal pain (80,6%) and cough (80,6%). Surgical treatment was performed in 87,5% of hepatic CE and 100% of pulmonary CE and hepatic and pulmonary CE. Albendazole was prescribed in 100% of hepatic cases, in 73,7% of pulmonary cases, and 75% of both affections. No mortality was reported.