title: Chronic urticaria in a middle-aged woman.
abstract: We report the case of a 56-year-old female who suffers from chronic urticaria and digestive symptoms, suggesting parasitic infection. Neither repetitive ova and parasite examinations in stools, nor duodenal aspiration examination reveals any parasite. The patient is treated by tinidazole, but the symptoms reappear ten days later. An additive ELISA test on stool remains positive for Giardia Lamblia; the patient receives once more tinidazole and symptoms totally disappear. This case report illustrates that the association between urticaria and digestive symptoms should guide the clinician to the diagnosis of Giardia Lamblia infection, and it shows the importance of a rapid and highly sensitive diagnostic test for giardiasis, like the ELISA test.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine, Erasme Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Sandra.De.Breucker@erasme.ulb.ac.be
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Breucker
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pepersack
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cogan
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D016829:Giardia lamblia; D005873:Giardiasis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D014581:Urticaria / Q000469:parasitology*