Human Proliferative Sparganosis: A New Japanese Case

Abstract

Human proliferative sparganosis is a rare parasitic disease in which the larval cestodes of unknown species proliferate in the various organs in the whole body. The authors describe a patient with innumerable parasites in the buttock and pelvic bone. The parasites were of globular or egg-like forms, up to 3 mm in diameter. Histologically, the wavy tegument, a few layers of epidermal cells, underdeveloped muscle cells, excretory channels, and calcareous corpuscles were found in the parasites. These morphologic findings confirmed the nature of maldifferentiated plerocercoid. The serologic data suggested a close relation between Sparganum proliferum and Spirometra erinacei.

A review of human sparganosis in Thailand

“…The patient with pulmonary sparganosis first presented with pulmonary symptoms; a chest X-ray revealed diffuse multiple masses with cavitations, while bronchoscopy with a transbronchial lung biopsy was non-diagnostic. 17 Indeed, there are some reports of pulmonary lesions, described as pulmonary proliferating, [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] due to intrapulmonary migration of sparganum but finding the worm in the lungs is very rare. With respect to intraosseous sparganosis, the Thai case included here is the first ever reported.…”

Molecular Diagnosis of Subcutaneous Spirometra erinaceieuropaei Sparganosis in a Japanese Immigrant

“…The determination of the exact species is of epidemiological interest, but far more importantly, it allowed the exclusion of the more pathogenic S. proliferum. Serological data from the 1990s suggested a close relationship between S. proliferum and S. erinaceieuropaei, 24 and earlier studies postulated that S. proliferum might be a virus-infected or abnormally differentiated S. erinaceieuropaei. 25,26 However, recent genetic inferences from mitochondrial cox1 genes unambiguously showed that S. proliferum is a distinct species from S. erinaceieuropaei in the same order of the Pseudophyllidea.…”

Rapid identification of nine species of diphyllobothriidean tapeworms by pyrosequencing

“…The former is caused by Spirometra erinaceieuropaei and Spirometra decipiens in China16, Japan17, Korea1819, Taiwan20 and Thailand21 and Spirometra mansonoides in the USA22. The latter is caused by the more pathogenic and disseminating Sparganum proliferum , which is reported as occurring only sporadically in Japan23, Taiwan24 and Thailand25 and very rarely in Paraguay, Venezuela, and the USA2627. Spirometra species require two intermediate hosts for the completion of their life cycle.…”