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Background Human alveolar echinococcosis (AE) caused by Echinococcus multilocularis is an underreported, often misdiagnosed and mistreated parasitic disease mainly due to its low incidence. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of human AE patients in Hungary for the first time. Method Between 2003 and 2018, epidemiological and clinical data of suspected AE patients were collected retrospectively from health database management systems. Results This case series included a total of 16 AE patients. The mean age of patients was 53 years (range: 24–78 years). The sex ratio was 1:1. Four patients (25%) revealed no recurrence after radical surgery and adjuvant albendazole (ABZ) therapy. For five patients (31.3%) with unresectable lesions, a stabilization of lesions with ABZ treatment was achieved. In seven patients (43.8%), progression of AE was documented. The mean diagnostic delay was 33 months (range: 1–122 months). Three AE related deaths (fatality rate 18.8%) were recorded. Conclusions AE is an emerging infectious disease in Hungary with a high fatality rate since based on our results, almost every fifth AE patient died in the study period. Differential diagnosis and appropriate surgical and medical therapy for AE is an urging challenge for clinicians in Hungary, as well as in some other European countries where E. multilocularis is prevalent.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a parasitic disease caused by the tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato. Although in Hungary the disease is listed among reportable infections, inadequacies in the reporting practice of CE by clinicians and pathologists have resulted in underscoring of this disease. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of CE in Hungary using a datasource other than the official records that are based mainly on serological data. This retrospective case series study included a total of 45 CE patients confirmed by histopathology in a single Hungarian center between 2000 and 2014. Although CE is the most prevalent reportable endemic helminthosis in Hungary, to date this is the first study on the clinical epidemiology of the disease in this country.

We report a case of a 41-year-old female patient presenting with watery diarrhoea and myalgia in the winter-season. Before her symptoms started she had participated in a pig slaughtering with her family. Some of the family members also became ill. On her physical examination periorbital odema and myalgia were found. Eosinophilia, hypalbuminaemia, elevated lactate dehydrogenase and creatin kinase levels were detected on laboratory investigations. The clinical picture, the laboratory findings and background epidemiological data implied the diagnosis of trichinellosis and albendazol was started. Serum gained on the 22nd post-infectious day turned out to be equivocal for trichinellosis. For this reason and because of the refractory fever a muscle-biopsy was done. Granulomatous myositis described by histology andAbsztrakt: Vizes hasmenés és izomfájdalmak miatt vettünk fel infektológiai osztályunkra egy 41 éves nőbeteget a téli évszakban, aki a panaszok kezdete előtt családi disznótoron vett részt, ahol mások is megbetegedtek. Fizikális vizsgálattal periorbitalis ödémát és myalgiát tapasztaltunk. Laboratóriumi vizsgálattal eosinophiliát, hypalbuminaemiát, kreatin-kináz- és laktát-dehidrogenáz-emelkedést észleltünk. A fizikális és laboratóriumi vizsgálati eredmények az epidemiológiai adatok ismeretében trichinellosisra utaltak, ezért albendazol adását kezdtük. A 22. napon

Alveolar echinococcosis is a zoonotic parasitic disease causing a severe clinical condition and is known as the most deadly of all helminth infections. Moreover, this disease is also an increasing concern in Northern and Eastern Europe due to its spread in the wildlife animal host. An asymptomatic 70-year-old woman from south-western Hungary was diagnosed with multiple liver lesions. Imaging techniques (ultrasound, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging), serology (ELISA, indirect hemagglutination and Western blot), and conventional staining methods (hematoxylin–eosin and periodic acid–Schiff) were used for the detection of the disease. A histopathological re-evaluation of formalin-fixed paraffin block by immunohistochemical staining with the monoclonal antibody Em2G11 definitively confirmed the diagnosis of alveolar echinococcosis. To our knowledge, this is the first confirmed autochthonous case of human alveolar echinococcosis in Hungary. To what extent diagnostic difficulties may contribute to underestimate this zoonosis in Eastern Europe is unknown. Differential diagnosis with alveolar echinococcosis should be considered for patients with multiple, tumor-like cystic lesions of the liver, in countries where this parasite is emerging.

Several trematodes that parasitize vertebrate animals utilize swimming aquatic larvae to infect the host percutaneously. The most important ones among these parasites are the blood-flukes of birds and mammals comprising species that are also zoonotic. Within this latter group are species that cause the bilharziasis or schistosomiasis of inhabitants of the tropical countries, and other trematode species that are able to penetrate human skin, but do not develop to an adult form of the worm in the body. In temperate climates this latter type of infection occurs mainly in the form of an unpleasant inflammation of the skin and is often called "swimmer's itch". In most of these cases, the origin of the larvae remains unexplored, the source of the infection is neglected by the medical or veterinarian practitioners. Herein we report for the first time in Hungary that the cause of such dermatitis was the cercariae of Schistosoma turkestanicum, which infected red deer (Cervus elaphus) in this country. The local name of this pristine disease is "water mange" and it occurs only in one of the floodplains of the Danube. On the basis of informal communication this symptom seems to be rather regular among people who do fishing or have a bath in the habitat of the blood-fluke. In the case of adequate anamnesis it is worth examining the origin of the cercarial dermatitis which may give cross-reactions with human schistosomiasis during serological tests. Orv. Hetil., 2016, 157(40), 1579-1586.

A tungiasis a homoki bolhának – Tunga penetrans (Linnaeus, 1758) – a gazda bőrébe behatoló nősténye által okozott bőrbetegség. Esetismertetés : 39 éves férfi beteg 2005 májusában jelentkezett vizsgálatra a bal láb I. ujján kialakult elváltozás miatt a Szent Rókus Kórház Bőr- és Nemibeteg Gondozójában (Budapest). A lábon jelentkező elváltozás keletkezésekor Brazíliában, a tengerparton tartózkodott, ahol gyakran sétált mezítláb a homokban. Ott-tartózkodása 6–7. napján, a bal láb I. ujján, kb. 6–7 mm átmérőjű, szélén vizenyős, középen barna pontozottságot mutató elváltozást észlelt. Vizsgálatkor a bal láb I. ujjának mediális felszínén 6 mm átmérőjű, kiemelkedő, klinikailag pustulának tűnő elváltozás volt látható, kb. 2 mm-es hyperaemiás szegéllyel. Az elváltozás megnyitásakor határozott nyomásra kb. 4 mm átmérőjű fehéres színű, nem feszes falú tok buggyant elő. A féreggyanús képletet az Országos Epidemiológiai Központ Parazitológiai Osztályán (Budapest) Tunga penetrans ként azonosították. Következtetés: Esetismertetésünkkel a hazai szakemberek figyelmét kívánjuk felhívni erre a Magyarországra is behurcolható egzotikus betegségre. Tudomásunk szerint ez Magyarországon az első diagnosztizált behurcolt humán tungiasis eset.

In a small village of Hungary, a human trichinellosis outbreak (affecting eight people) occurred in January–February, 2009. In the outbreak investigation (i) Trichinella spiralis larvae were detected in meat products derived from the pigs slaughtered in the backyard of one of the patients (a foxhunter) in December 2008, and in a brown rat captured in the same backyard; (ii) sera of 24 pigs held in 11 yards of the village and that of some dogs of the foxhunter were found Trichinella-positive; (iii) sera of five villagers who could not be infected in the particular outbreak were also found reactive in Trichinella-specific laboratory tests. The followings helped the rise of an outbreak: the geographical position and the presence of empty houses favoured the multiplication of rats; there was no extermination of rats in the previous years; there was no meat inspection; raw meat and improperly processed meat products were tasted at the pig-slaughter; villagers gave tastes to each other. People were informed on the symptoms, the way of transmission, and the possibilities of prevention of trichinellosis by experts. With the help of local authorities, all the properties including the grounds with empty houses were involved in the extermination of rodents.