Acute pulmonary schistosomiasis in travelers returning from Lake Malawi, sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

We describe four cases of acute schistosomiasis presenting to the Infectious Diseases Unit of John Radcliffe Hospital (Oxford, England) during a 2-month period in autumn 1997. All four patients had swum in Lake Malawi, a freshwater lake in sub-Saharan Africa that is associated with Schistosoma haematobium and, less commonly, Schistosoma mansoni infections. All four patients had a severe acute illness and had prominent pulmonary involvement, both clinically and radiologically. This represents a change in the recognized pattern of presentation and could possibly reflect a new parasite variant in the lake.