A Case of Clonorchiasis with Clinical Presentation of Eosinophilic Pneumonia.

Lee, Deog Young; Kim, Sung Jun; Lee, Jong Hyun; Kim, Dong Wook; Lee, Jin Kwan

doi:1998.45.3.643

Tuberc Respir Dis > Volume 45(3); 1998 > Article

Case Report

Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases 1998;45(3):643-648.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4046/trd.1998.45.3.643 Published online June 1, 1998.

A Case of Clonorchiasis with Clinical Presentation of Eosinophilic Pneumonia.

Deog Young Lee, Sung Jun Kim, Jong Hyun Lee, Dong Wook Kim, Jin Kwan Lee

Department of Internal Medicine, Dong Kang General Hospital, Ulsan, Korea.

Abstract

Although clonorchiasis is one of the most common parasitic infections in Korea, it is unusual that the disease presents peripheral eosinophilia and pulmonary infiltrations.( eosinophilic pneumonia) A case of clonorchiasis manifested as diffuse nodular pulmonary infiltrations was presented. The patient had a mild to moderate pain on the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, cough, dyspnea, and unknown cause of marked eosinophilia (up to 71.4% of total white blood cell count). The causal organism, clonorchis sinensis was found by the identification of parasite ova in the stooL We confirmed eosinophuic pneumonia with bronchoalveolar larvage analysis and transbronchial lung biopsy. With corticosteroid and praziquantel treatment, clinical symtoms and pulmonary infiltrations on the chest roentgenograms had rapidly improved. We report a case of eosinophilic pneumonia related to clonorchiasis and review the pertinent literature.

Key Words: Eosinophilia, Eosinophilic pneumonia, Clonorchiasis