Spinal cord schistosomiasis in children: Analysis of seven cases

Abstract

We describe seven cases of children (ages 2 to 14 years) with myeloradiculopathy caused by infection with S. mansoni. None of them presented hepatosplenic involvement and one presented an intestinal picture. The myeloradicular and pseudotumoral forms were observed in four and three patients, respectively. Comparing the reports in the literature, we found that the pseudotumoral form is more similary frequent among children than in adults, while the myelitic and myeloradicular forms are the most frequent and distributed across all age groups. Diagnosis is based on clinical and epidemiological findings in association with laboratory tests. The diagnosis was confirmed by the presence of S. mansoni eggs in feces (5 cases) and / or the positivity in specific immunological tests (5 cases) associated with a cerebrospinal fluid inflammatory pattern with presence of eosinophils (between 1 and 24%). Magnetic resonance image, although it does not enable an etiological diagnosis, helped to confirm the form and spinal cord level of the lesion.