Taenia crassiceps upper limb fasciitis in a patient with untreated acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and chronic hepatitis C infection--the role of surgical debridement

Abstract

We report a rare case of human Taenia crassiceps infection in a 47-year-old female patient with untreated acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and chronic hepatitis C infection. Little experience exists regarding the appropriate treatment of this infection. Usually, a combination of anthelmintic drugs is applied. Whether surgical measures are indicated have not been clarified. In our patient, initial surgery showed an abscess and fluid collection with numerous transparent cysts localised in the subcutaneous tissue of the cubital fossa. Parasitological and pathological examinations identified these structures as larvae of the cestode T. crassiceps. After treatment with anthelmintic medications, the patient was discharged in good condition. However, the patient presented with the clinical symptoms of an acute fasciitis of the right upper extremity 7 days later. The deteriorating general condition entailing a pre-septical state demanded emergency debridement and fasciectomy of the right arm. After the surgery, the patient recovered fully.

Conclusions: Surgical treatment appears to be an important measure to reduce the tissue parasite load in patients with severe immunodeficiency. It also has to be questioned whether the bioavailability and the penetration of the drugs commonly administered is sufficiently high to treat such a fulminant infection alone.