A man was infected with a very rare parasitic dog tapeworm larvae in his lungs.

Before the onset of the disease, this man had eaten raw and undercooked foods many times, such as: grilled lamb, goat blood pudding, raw vegetables and anchovy salad. After that, the patient discovered the disease with fatigue, dull pain in the right chest, and occasional difficulty breathing.

On January 21, the 108 Military Central Hospital (108 Hospital) announced that its doctors had just successfully performed surgery on a man (born in 1986, in Hanoi ) infected with dog tapeworm larvae parasitizing the lungs, which is very rare in Vietnam.

Before the onset of the disease, this man had eaten raw and undercooked foods many times, such as: grilled lamb, goat blood pudding, raw vegetables and anchovy salad. The patient was diagnosed with fatigue, dull pain in the right chest, occasional difficulty breathing, no fever, no cough, no rash, no weight loss. After going to Hospital 108 for examination, the patient was ordered a chest X-ray with the results showing a cystic lesion in the lower lobe of the right lung measuring 12x9x8cm. The patient was ordered to have surgery to remove the cyst.

Immediately afterwards, the doctors performed thoracic endoscopic surgery to remove the cyst for this male patient. After the surgery, the doctors removed a large, thick-walled cyst with clear cyst fluid containing tapeworm heads located in the lower lobe of the right lung. This specimen was sent for fresh examination and identified as dog tapeworm larvae. After the surgery, the male patient's condition was stable and he recovered well.

Fresh image of dog tapeworm larvae

According to Dr. Nguyen Van Hoang, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Hospital 108, dog tapeworm disease is caused by tapeworms of the genus Echinococcus. The disease is characterized by slow development, and can be completely asymptomatic for a long time. Cysts are often found in the liver, followed by the lungs and other organs such as the kidneys, heart, nervous tissue or bones... Everyone is susceptible to dog tapeworm larvae and can be infected if they eat dog tapeworm eggs. People get the disease by swallowing dog tapeworm eggs when eating food contaminated with dog tapeworm eggs or after direct contact with infected dogs, foxes, or ferrets.

NGUYEN QUOC

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/mot-nam-gioi-bi-nhiem-au-trung-san-day-cho-ky-sinh-o-phoi-rat-hiem-gap-post723663.html