[Recurrent chest wall abscess. Result of a probable percutaneous infection with Echinococcus multilocularis following...

An unusual form of inoculation and of clinical manifestation of alveolar echinococcosis in the subcutaneous tissue of the thoracic wall is described. In 1970 the patient was bitten by a dormouse (Glis glis). Thereafter multiple recurrent abscesses and fistulae developed over a period of 11 years in the thoracic wall and were drained repeatedly. Several bacteriological and histological examinations revealed no specific cause until 1980. In 1983 radical surgical excision of the subcutaneous inflammatory tissue was performed and alveolar echinococcosis was demonstrated histologically. In the past 4 years the patient has remained asymptomatic and without evidence of recurrence. As a working hypothesis it is suggested that by way of the rodent bite infectious material (eggs of Echinococcus multilocularis) entered the subcutaneous tissue of the thoracic wall.