Hydatidosis: A 35-year-old woman was living with a worm in the vertebrae

Most of the time, when one is infected with a worm, everything happens in the digestive system. And medication can be enough to eliminate the intruder from the body. But for this young 35-year-old woman from Côte-d'Or, the infection could have turned into a tragedy: once ingested, the worm lodged in one of its vertebrae and compressed its spinal cord, threatening it. to become tetraplegic! An extremely rare case reported by doctors of the University Hospital Center of Dijon in New England Journal of Medicine .

A tapeworm parasitizing pets and livestock

Weak, dizzy and feeling electric shock in the legs, the patient went to the emergency room in Dijon, stating that she also had hard to ride on horseback for three months. After several exams, the doctors discovered that she suffered from an alteration of sensation in both legs and weakness of foot flexion. MRI of the spine revealed a lesion at the 9th thoracic vertebra. The cause of this injury? A hydatidosis, a disease caused by the ingestion of eggs of Echinococcus granulosus . This species of worm, also called "dog echinococcus", is a small tapeworm that parasitizes the gut of the best friend of man, but also other pets and livestock. A worm that is known to cause lesions in the liver, lungs as well as in the central nervous system and bones. Humans are considered "accidental" hosts.

The young woman explained to the doctors owning a cat and having contact with cattle, which could explain her infection. Transmission to humans is mainly done by bringing to the mouth hands contaminated with parasite eggs on the animals' coat. Some cases of transmission of Echinococcus granulosus were reported in France, "mainly in the Southeast and Corsica" notes the Ministry of Agriculture, which recommends washing systematically hands to drinking water and soap after contact with animals, waste or manure.

For the young woman, the story ends well: the doctors performed a corporectomy-an intervention that consists of remove the vertebrae infected by the worm to decompress the spinal cord- and osteosynthesis of the 7th to the 11th vertebra, a surgical operation which consists in keeping the vertebrae between them, thanks to metal materials tolerated by the body. In addition, the patient received a powerful parasite, albendazole. Nine months after the operation, the young woman has fully recovered and is in good health.