Confirmed Autochthonous Case of Human Alveolar Echinococcosis, Italy, 2023

Abstract

In September 2023, a patient in Italy who had never traveled abroad was referred for testing for suspected hepatic cystic echinococcosis. Lesions were incompatible with cystic echinococcosis; instead, autochthonous alveolar echinococcosis was confirmed. Alveolar echinococcosis can be fatal, and awareness must be raised of the infection’s expanding distribution.

Immunohistochemistry as a Reliable Tool for the Diagnosis of Cystic Echinococcosis in Patients from Sardinia, Italy—A Confirmatory Study

“…Even if Sardinia, similar to other Mediterranean areas, has only been characterized by the presence of E. granulosus s.l. [38], the need to develop techniques able to discriminate between CE and AE [43] is of vast importance in several geographic zones worldwide [44]; in particular, because of the recent findings of an autochthonous case of human AE in Italy [14].…”

“…In contrast, E. multilocularis has mainly been detected in Asia, Japan, China, North America, Central, and Eastern Europe [5,13]. There has been no evidence of its presence in the Mediterranean areas until recently, when the first human case of AE in Italy was described in a report [14].…”

Annual assessment of Echinococcus multilocularis surveillance reports submitted in 2024 in the context of commission delegated regulation (EU) 2018/772

“…E. multilocularis is considered an emerging parasite in Europe. In fact, AE has been recently detected in Croatia, Italy and Serbia; thus, differential diagnosis and therapy of AE is a new challenge in clinical practice in these countries (Balen Topić et al., 2023 ; Dezsényi et al., 2019 ; Dušek et al., 2020 ; Lalošević et al., 2023 ; Tamarozzi et al., 2024 ).…”