ANTIERYTHROCYTE AUTOIMMUNIZATION IN HYDATID-DISEASE

A 73-year-old man with hydatid disease developed autoimmune hemolytic anemia due to IgM cold agglutinin with anti-I specificity. Hemolysis d ecreased after initiating mebendazole therapy. The cysts notably dimin ished in size and the red cell autoantibodies disappeared at the end o f this treatment. On the basis of these observations, 44 patients with hydatid disease were investigated. One patient showed IgM cold autoan tibody with no signs of anemia. In addition, cleavage fragments of C3 were detected on the erythrocyte membranes of 6 patients, following ch ronic activation of the complement system. We suggest that parasitic a ntigens may evoke antibodies cross-reacting with the red blood cells o f the host.