A rare form of sparganosis with eosinophilic pleural effusion is reported.
A 62-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with left pleural effusion,
and diagnosed immunologically as having sparganosis. Eosinophilia was seen
in both peripheral blood and pleural effusion. The level of interleukin (IL
)-5 was elevated in the pleural effusion, but not in peripheral blood. The
patient was treated successfully with three consecutive doses of praziquant
el (75 mg/kg/day). After the treatment, the antibody titer in serum decreas
ed and the eosinophil number in the peripheral blood returned to the normal
level. Thus, sparganosis should be included in the differential diagnosis
for eosinophilic pleuritis. The immunoserological screening test using mult
iple-dot ELISA is helpful to identify the causative pathogen.