title: Human cystic echinococcosis in Heilongjiang Province, China: a retrospective study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is one of emerging zoonotic parasitic diseases throughout the world, having significant medical and economic importance in developing countries. The western and northwestern China is considered as CE endemic areas. In northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province, the increasing number of sporadic human CE cases has attracted more and more attention. The aims of the present study were to understand the clinical characteristics of human CE in the investigated area and to compare the coincidence rates of CT, ultrasound and serological test against the histopathology results among CE patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hospital data of 183 human CE cases in the period from January 2004 to July 2013 were collected from the two largest hospitals in Heilongjiang Province. Clinical data were analyzed, including age, gender, occupation and living residence of CE patients and localization, size and number of CE cysts as well as the diagnosis methods of CE before operation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results revealed that the incidence of CE reached a peak in the age group of 41-50 years. Among the 183 CE patients, the females were observed to have a higher percentage of CE patients (60.66%, 111/183) than males (39.34%, 72/183). The majority of CE patients were farmers, followed by workers, employees, public servants, students and so on. CE cysts were most commonly found in the livers, with a 30 cm cyst in diameter being detected. CT showed the highest coincidence rate (96.64%) for hepatic CE among the three common diagnosis methods (CT, ultrasound imagine and serological test) compared against the histopathology results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first retrospective analysis of human CE cases in Heilongjiang Province in recent ten years. Clinical characteristics of human CE were described here. CT appeared to be the most effective diagnosis method for hepatic CE.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150001, China. ztmgn@163.com.
authors.forename: Tiemin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150081, China. hayidazhaowei@163.com.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150081, China. yangdong9316@163.com.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150001, China. piaodaxun242@126.com.
authors.forename: Daxun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Piao
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150001, China. huangshibo1986666@163.com.
authors.forename: Shibo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150001, China. 785491221@qq.com.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mi
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150001, China. zhaoxianqi442@126.com.
authors.forename: Xianqi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology, Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Centre for Malaria, Schistosomiasis and Filariasis, Shanghai, 200025, China. caojp@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology, Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Centre for Malaria, Schistosomiasis and Filariasis, Shanghai, 200025, China. shyj12@yahoo.com.cn.
authors.forename: Yujuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150081, China. zhangweizhe526@163.com.
authors.forename: Weizhe
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150081, China. liuaiqin1128@126.com.
authors.forename: Aiqin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004444:Echinococcosis, Hepatic / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004445:Echinococcosis, Pulmonary / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D048209:Echinococcus granulosus / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012698:Serologic Tests; D017678:Sex Distribution; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007074:Immunoglobulin G