Echinococcus multilocularis (EM) is the most virulent species of the genus Echinococcus. It causes a highly lethal helminthic disease in humans. The disease may present as hepatic mass mimicking a malignant neoplasm. Due to the vascular and neural invasion, protean clinical manifestations including Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) may be the clinical presentation of this condition. We herein report three cases of Echinococcus multilocularis; the first case presenting as multiple hepatic space-occupying lesions, second as liver mass infiltrating the nerve bundles, and the third as a hepatic mass infiltrating the large vessels including inferior vena cava and right hepatic vein presenting as BCS. EM is a parasite with capabilities of mass-forming effect, neural and vascular invasion. Though cases of BCS have been described, most of these are due to secondary compression and rarely by direct parasitic invasion.

The mean gray-scale ratio of the infiltrating zone of a lesion to the surrounding normal liver tissue was evaluated on the basis of contrast enhancement of the infiltration and proliferation zones of a hepatic alveolar echinococcosis lesion. The results were compared with the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ([18F]FDG PET-CT), and the application of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in evaluating hepatic alveolar echinococcosis activity is discussed. The 36 patients with hepatic alveolar echinococcosis recruited underwent contrast-enhanced ultrasound and [18F]FDG PET-CT. A total of 39 lesions were found in the 36 patients. The results indicated that in 87.2% of the cases, the two methods yielded the same diagnosis, whereas in 12.8% of cases, the diagnoses obtained with the two methods were inconsistent. The statistical results revealed that contrast-enhanced ultrasound and [18F]FDG PET-CT have good inter-rater reliability in determining the activity of hepatic alveolar echinococcosis (κ = 0.756, p < 0.01).

In zoonotic infections, the relationships between animals and humans lead to parasitic disease with severity that ranges from mild symptoms to life-threatening conditions. In cities and their surrounding areas, this statement is truer with the overcrowding of the protagonists of the parasites' life cycle. The present study aims to investigate the distribution of a parasite, Echinococcus multilocularis, which is the causative agent of alveolar echinococcosis, using copro-sampling in historically endemic rural settlements of the eastern part of France and in newly endemic areas including urban parks and settlements surrounding Paris. Based on 2741 morphologically identified and geolocalized copro-samples, the density of fox faeces was generally higher in the surrounding settlements, except for one rural area where the faeces were at larger density downtown in the winter. Fox faeces are rare but present in urban parks. Dog faeces are concentrated in the park entrances and in the centre of the settlements. DNA was extracted for 1530 samples that were collected and identified from fox, dog, cat, stone marten and badger carnivore hosts. Echinococcus multilocularis diagnosis and host faecal tests were performed using real-time PCR. We failed to detect the parasite in the surroundings of Paris, but the parasite was found in the foxes, dogs and cats in the rural settlements and their surroundings in the historically endemic area. A spatial structuring of the carnivore stool distribution was highlighted in the present study with high densities of carnivore stools among human occupied areas within some potentially high-risk locations.

A 19-year-old woman presented with liver capsule pain and a liver lesion on sonography, which contained microvesicular cystic, necrotic and solid fibrotic formations typical for alveolar echinococcosis (AE). The diagnosis was confirmed by serology and histopathology. This parasitic infection which is endemic in Germany is feared because of its malignant growth. The increasing expansion of E. multilocularis in Europe will lead to a higher incidence of AE with an occurrence of cases outside classical endemic regions.

Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a lethal disease caused by infection with the metacestode stage of the helminth Echinococcus multilocularis, which develops into a tumor-like mass in susceptible intermediate hosts. The growth potential of this parasite stage is directly linked to the nature of the surrounding periparasitic immune-mediated processes. In a first step (experiment 1), mice were orally infected with E. multilocularis eggs, to be used for assessing the hepatic expression profiles of 15 selected cytokine and chemokine genes related to acquired immunity from 21 to 120 days post infection. The early stage of infection in immune competent animals was marked by a mixed Th1/Th2 immune response, as characterized by the concomitant presence of IFN-γ and IL-4 and their related chemokines. At late stage of AE, the profile extended to a combined tolerogenic mode including Foxp3, IL-10 and TGF-β as key components. In a second step (experiment 2), the effect of Treg-deficiency on metacestode growth was assessed in E. multilocularis-infected DEREG mice upon induction of Treg-deficiency with diphtheria toxin (DT). The parasite lesions were significantly smaller in size in the livers of treated mice than in corresponding control groups. Foxp3+ Tregs appear as one of the key players in immune regulatory processes favoring metacestode survival by affecting antigen presentation and suppressing Th1-type immune responses. For these reasons we suggest that affecting Foxp3+ Tregs could offer an attractive target in the development of an immunotherapy against AE.

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