A case of pulmonary cysticercosis

Cysticercosis, which has a worldwide distribution is found in man, who is usually infected by eating inadequately cooked pork or other contaminated food. Cysticercosis develops most commonly in the muscles and brain. Pulmonary involvement is very rare and also difficult to recognize because pulmonary lesions caused by the presence of cysticerci are difficult to discern from pulmonary infiltrates, because other parasitic infestations or tuberculosis, as well as metastatic lesions, produce similar chest X-ray findings and similar clinical symptoms. We experienced a case of pulmonary cysticercosis confirmed at Gyeongsang National University Hospital by means of an open lung biopsy and treated successfully with praziquantel (50 mg/kg per day for 15 days). This case seems to indicate that pulmonary cysticercosis should be considered as a diagnostic possibility in patients with nodular infiltrates in the lungs, especially in endemic areas, until such infiltrates are otherwise explained.