[Fascioliasis in children. A study of 10 cases]

These are the observation found in ten children with fascioliasis diagnosis at the Servicio de Parasitología, of the Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, from 1979 to 1990; six children in scholar age; one prescholar and three teenagers; only one was female. Four of them lined at the State of Mexico; three at Morelos; one at Puebla, another one at Oaxaca and the other one at Mexico City. In nine of the watercress eaten was confirmed. The most important clinic manifestations were: fever, weight lose, paleness, hepatomegaly, hiporexia, right hypochondrium pain and diarrhoea. Diagnosis was established by: counterimmunoelectrophoresis, indirect haemagglutination and there were found eggs by simple sedimentation, Ritchie's method and microscopic study of duodenal sample. Leukocytes counts were between 11,000 and 34,000/mm3. Eosinophils were to 77% with 24,430 totals. Only in three of them haemoglobin was found under 9 g/dL. All of them had hypergammaglobulinemia. In nine patients the alkaline phosphatase was found in higher levels; only in three of them, transaminase, oxalacetic and glutamic piruvic were found in higher levels. The most effective drug in the treatment was dehidroemetine.