Fasciola hepatica liver infection in a Victorian dairy farmer
Torresi, J.; Richards, M.J.; Taggart, G.J.; Smallwood, R.A.
Medical Journal of Australia 164(8): 511
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-729X PMID: 8614357 Document Number: 461445
A 42-year-old dairy farmer from northern Victoria, Australia, presented after 3 months of night sweats, vomiting, severe upper right quadrant pain and weight loss. Computed tomography showed lesions in both lobes of the liver and a liver biopsy was serologically positive for Fasciola hepatica. Symptoms continued despite 2 doses of 900 mg praziquantel repeated 6 months later, but slowly resolved after a further 3 days treatment with praziquantel at 20 mg/kg/day. The patient was believed to have become infected while picking blackberries alongside irrigation canals. Although human fascioliasis has been infrequently recognized in Australia, the high (98%) rate of infection in cattle suggests that human endemic infection is present in irrigated dairying districts, with potential for outbreaks of more severe infection.