Hymenolepis diminuta Infection in a Romanian Child from an Urban Area

Abstract

Hymenolepis diminuta is primarily a rodent parasite that is ubiquitously distributed worldwide, but with only a few cases described as human infections. We report a case of Hymenolepis diminuta infection in a 15-month-old child, living in an urban setting, with no previous medical history. The patient presented with two episodes of seizures, and complaints of abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, with no apparent history of rodent contact. Furthermore, the patient’s gastrointestinal symptoms were linked to the emission of suspected tapeworm proglottids in the feces. After excluding other possible etiologies, a diagnosis of Hymenolepis diminuta infection was made, based on the examination of characteristic eggs in a concentrated stool specimen. The infant was successfully treated with praziquantel and fully recovered. After two weeks, the stool sample was free of Hymenolepis diminuta eggs. The clinical follow-up over the next 3 years was normal. Hymenolepis diminuta is rarely found in humans, and, when present, the infection is frequently asymptomatic. Abdominal pain, irritability, itching, eosinophilia, and seizures have also been reported. In this paper, we report, for the first time in the literature, an infection with Hymenolepis diminuta in a Romanian infant who had atypical neurological presentation, with full recovery, without subsequent neurological sequelae.

Hymenolepiasis

“…Eggs in fecal samples can be identified by performing a microscopic examination of the sample (Galos et al 2022). A simple test tube floatation technique (FLOTAC) is a reliable qualitative test reliable method for copro-diagnostic purposes and can be effectively performed to detect the presence of nematode and cestode eggs of H. diminuta and H. nana.…”

In vitro anthelmintic efficacy of Ferulic and Sinapic acid against zoonotic cestode Hymenolepis diminuta (Rudolphi, 1819)

“…Though this infection is mainly asymptomatic but its severe infections may cause clinical symptoms of anorexia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, cutaneous itching, arthromyalgia, mild peripheral eosinophilia etc. Generalized tonic-clonic seizures and retardation during development have also been observed in some children (Kołodziej et al 2014; Mane and Sangwan 2016; Sharifdini et al 2019;Galoș et al 2022). H. diminuta was also recently reported from our laboratory to inhibit probiotic colonization in its host gut (Mandal et al 2022).…”