Samaila Modupeola Omotara, Shehu Sani Mohammed, Abubakar Nasiru, Mohammed Umar, Jabo Bashir
Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Department of Morbid Anatomy/Histopathology, Shika, Zaria, Kaduna State, 810001, Nigeria.
BMJ Case Rep. 2009;2009:bcr0220091622. doi: 10.1136/bcr.02.2009.1622. Epub 2009 Aug 10.
Human infection by Dicrocoelium dendriticum, a zoonotic liver fluke, is uncommon and soft tissue manifestation is extremely rare. The infection has no specific clinical signs or symptoms and diagnosis may be missed completely, thus treatment may be delayed. Diagnosis in humans is by identification of the eggs in the stool, while a living or dead fluke is rarely seen. The present report concerns the case of a 7-year-old child who presented with recurrent right flank subcutaneous nodules containing a live fluke on excision, and tissue histology showed characteristic brown operculated ova of D dendriticum. This is the first extraintestinal soft tissue presentation in such a setting. It is important to know the life cycle and natural habitat of this rare human parasite in order to make a correct diagnosis and institute early treatment in patients who have become infected.
