American Review of Respiratory Disease
Volume 124, Issue 2, 1981, Pages 186-188
Pleural paragonimiasis in a southeast Asian refugee (Article)
Minh V.D. ,
Engle P. ,
Greenwood J.R. ,
Prendergast T.J. ,
Salness K. ,
St Clair R.
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a
Pulmon. Div., Dept. Med., Univ. California Irvine Med. Cent., Orange, Calif. 92668, United States
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b
Pulmon. Div., Dept. Med., Univ. California Irvine Med. Cent., Orange, Calif. 92668, United States
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c
Pulmon. Div., Dept. Med., Univ. California Irvine Med. Cent., Orange, Calif. 92668, United States
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d
[Affiliation not available]
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e
[Affiliation not available]
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f
[Affiliation not available]
Abstract
We report a Laotian patient with pleural paragonimiasis who did not have the usual diagnostic triad for this parasitic disease. He did not have chronic hemoptysis (considered by many to be an 'invariable' finding), there were no pulmonary infiltrations and stool and sputum examinations did not yield Paragonimus ova. The diagnosis was made on the basis of ova found in the pleural fluid. Paragonimiasis pleural effusion did not resolve with bithionol, the drug of choice for pulmonary paragonimiasis, and, as a result, chest tube drainage was required. The difference between pleural paragonimiasis and pulmonary paragonimiasis is that the classic clinical presentation of the latter (hemoptysis, ova in sputum and stools, lung infiltration, etc.) requires an intrapulmonary location of the parasite. A search for ova in the pleural fluid may be the only diagnostic tool for patients suspected of pleural paragonimiasis. With the influx of Southeast Asian refugees, this case report may be of relevance to U.S. physicians involved in the care of patients in whom not all chronic pleuropulmonary diseases are tuberculous.
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https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-0019457480&partnerID=40&md5=804114e8b0976c5c58ed7b3a80c49de2
ISSN: 00030805
Cited by: 21
Original Language: English