Lung paragonimiais in children: Report of two cases

Abstract

Paragonimiasis is a parasitic zoonosis, food-borne trematodes caused by species of the genus Paragonimus, found in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa and America. Humans become infected by eating raw or undercooked freshwater shellfish. The infection primarily affects the lungs, development of multiple clinical and radiological manifestations, depending on what the parasite's life cycle is. The most important differential diagnosis of this disease is pulmonary tuberculosis.

This article describes the disease in two girls with different pulmonary manifestations. The paragonimiasis should be suspected in patients with chronic cough, rusty sputum, chest pain, with or without brain involvement, who live or have lived in an endemic area and having a high eosinophilia with radiographic changes suggestive of Loeffler's syndrome.