title: Parasitological and molecular observations on a little family outbreak of human fasciolosis diagnosed in Italy.
abstract: In the year 2010, three children who were born in a Romanian cattle farmer family went to Italy to join their mother. One of them was admitted to an Italian pediatric hospital for severe anemia that, when she was in her country, had been treated with blood transfusion. Blood tests and an abdominal ultrasound study triggered the suspicion of biliary parasitosis. The child underwent a cholangiopancreatography that caused the release of parasitic material microscopically identified as Fasciola hepatica. All children and their mother were submitted to coproparasitological analyses, which identified F. hepatica eggs only in the patient and in her twin sister. Parasitic materials recovered and flatworm specimens by us ad hoc obtained from Italian and Romanian cattle were genetically (ITS and COI genes) analyzed, and their sequences were compared with those deposited in GenBank. Specimens from children clustered with the Romanian strain examined and showed remarkable genetic differences with flatworm specimens from Italy. Anamnesis, parasite biology, and genetic data strongly suggest that twin sisters became infected in Romania; however, human fasciolosis is an emerging sanitary problem, favored by climate changes and global drivers; therefore, it deserves more attention on behalf of physicians working in both developing and developed countries.
authors.affiliation: Umberto I Policlinic of Rome, Viale del Policlinico 155, 00161 Rome, Italy ; Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gabrielli
authors.affiliation: Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute, Via Tancia 21, 02100 Rieti, Italy.
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Calderini
authors.affiliation: Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Piazza Sant'Onofrio, 4, 00165 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dall'Oglio
authors.affiliation: Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Piazza Sant'Onofrio, 4, 00165 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: De Angelis
authors.initials: de A
authors.lastname: Paola
authors.affiliation: Umberto I Policlinic of Rome, Viale del Policlinico 155, 00161 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: De Angelis
authors.initials: de A
authors.lastname: Maurizio
authors.affiliation: Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Piazza Sant'Onofrio, 4, 00165 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Scottoni
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Federico
authors.affiliation: Umberto I Policlinic of Rome, Viale del Policlinico 155, 00161 Rome, Italy ; Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cancrini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D005209:Fasciola / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005211:Fascioliasis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000469:parasitology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D012383:Romania
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