Sparganose

Human sparganosis (sparganosis) is a rare food-borne zoonosis (raw fish, frog meat) that manifests clinically by slow-growing, painless, subcutaneous swelling (sparganum). More rare are space-occupying systemic metastases (e.g. intracranial, intramuscular). Sparganosis is mainly caused by the plerocercoid of Spirometra.

Abdomen or the chest wall; muscles, brain. But other organs can also be affected.

The most common clinical sign of sparganosis are space-occupying processes(sparganum), which are often only discovered by chance. In case of subcutaneous infestation, subcutaneous swelling is detectable (sparganum, which is usually misdiagnosed as a lipoma).

1. Muigg V et al (2019) Case Report: Human Subcutaneous Sparganosis in a Thai Migrant.At J Trop Med Hyg 101:1170-1173.
2. Prasetyo RH et al (2019) Sparganum in frog meat: A warning for the occurrence of human sparganosis. Trop Parasitol 9:130-131.