Pulmonary echinococcosis: a pediatric disease of the Southwestern United States.

Three cases of pulmonary echinococcosis in native American children emphasize the need to consider the diagnosis in the differential diagnosis of mass lesions of the chest when the appropriate environmental conditions are present. Two children presented with a non-productive cough, while one was asymptomatic. Surgery is the treatment of choice for pulmonary echinococcal cysts. All three children did well after thoracotomy, and one child has a normal roentgenogram six years after surgery. Recent evidence seems to indicate that transmission of the Echinococcus among native Americans in the Southwest is increasing, and thus human echinococcal disease may be of increasing clinical importance.