[Clinical characteristics of chronic infection by Fasciola hepatica in children]

Recent studies show that human fascioliasis is an infectious disease with significance in Peru and in other Latin American countries. The purpose of this study is to describe the clinical characteristics with a criteria towards the diagnosis of chronic infection by hepatic Fasciola in children. Sixty five individuals with ages ranging between 4 and 15 years were included, all from the District of Asillo (fascioliasis endemic area) in the Province of Azángaro, Department of Puno, Peru. A clinical exam was performed, as well as egg count per gram of feces (EPG count) and eosinophiles count. The group of children with ages between 8 and 11 years was the most affected, accounting for 47.5% of the total. The most frequent result in the exams was abdominal pain (82%) with epigastric location (37.7%), the Murphy symptom showed in 25 children (41% and there was a jaundice record in 17 children (27.9%). The rest of the symptoms and signs were non-specific. In the leukocyte count, 43.5% presented eosinophilia. The average count of eosinophiles and the severity of the infection (EPG count) decreased as the child became older. We concluded that chronic fascioliasis in endemic zones presents abdominal pain localized in the epigastrium and the Murphy symptom as the most frequent clinical biliary characteristics, while the rest of the symptoms are non-specific and this is probably due to the high endemic degree of other intestinal parasitosis which are present in this population. Finally the eosinophilia of chronic fascioliasis is in inverse relation with age in individuals of endemic zones and the number of parasites probably decreases as the person grows older, probably due to a modulation in the immune response of the individual or by the natural death of the parasite.