Central nervous system sparganosis: An extraordinary case in an adult and a pediatric patient

Sparganosis caused by Spirometra erinaceieuropaei is a widespread zoonotic parasitic disease that poses a potential threat to public health. Clinical manifestations are highly diverse and may lead to diagnostic confusion and delays. Clarifying epidemiological characteristics, particularly age-related infection patterns, and confirming the pathogen using molecular methods are crucial for accurate clinical diagnosis and effective prevention.

This study aimed to accurately identify the parasitic species in two clinical cases, analyze the epidemiological correlation between case age and infection, and provide reliable molecular evidence for clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Morphological observation was first performed for preliminary parasite identification. Subsequently, molecular verification was conducted for samples from both cases. To achieve this, specific primers were used to amplify target gene fragments by PCR. The amplified products were then sequenced and subjected to homology alignment with publicly available S. erinaceieuropaei cox1 and cox3 sequences in the NCBI database.

Morphological features matched those of S. erinaceieuropaei. Sequence alignment demonstrated that sequences from both Case 1 and Case 2 exhibited over 99% identity with the cox1 and cox3 sequences of S. erinaceieuropaei in the NCBI database, confirming the species. Epidemiological analysis revealed that both cases involved adolescents and young adults, indicating a strong link between age and infection risk, primarily due to age-related differences in dietary habits and exposure sources.

Both cases were confirmed to be caused by S. erinaceieuropaei. Age is significantly associated with sparganosis, and adolescents and young adults are the main susceptible population. These results provide important molecular evidence and epidemiological data for the clinical diagnosis and control of sparganosis.

Future research should expand the sample size to conduct a more comprehensive epidemiological survey, explore the correlation between genetic variation and clinical manifestations, and establish a more rapid and specific molecular detection method to improve the early diagnosis rate of sparganosis.