Cerebral vasculitis associated with Schistosoma mansoni infection

Cerebral involvement in schistosomiasis is not rare, but it is underdiagnosed because of the lack of clinical suspicion and the frequency of asymptomatic forms. Neurologic complications are generally supported by granuloma formation around ectopic eggs which have migrated to the brain. Moreover, vascular lesions and cerebral arteritis have been well documented in histopathological studies. Nevertheless, cerebral vasculitis in later stages of the Schistosoma mansoni infection have not yet been described in living subjects.

A 28-year-old french woman had a stroke linked with cerebral vasculitis, 6 monthes after returning from Burkina-Faso. At the same time, a S. mansoni disseminated infection was diagnosed. She suffered from a new stroke after undertaking praziquantel therapy, which lead us to associate the S. mansoni infection and cerebral vasculitis.

This is the first report of such association, since cerebral vasculitis has never been described in later stages of the S. mansoni infection. Although the causal link between the two pathologies could not be proved, we suggest that S. mansoni is able to cause severe vascular damage in cerebral vessels. Schistosomiasis must be investigated in the event of a brain infarct in young people, particularly in patients originating or returning from an endemic area.