Cross-sectional observational study of LM cases diagnosed in Hospital Universitario Donostia from 2011 to 2015 in patients who had not visited a region where this nematode infection is endemic. Clinical diagnoses were based on characteristic lesions. We studied the following variables: age, sex, site of lesions, date of onset of symptoms, possible source of contagion, pathologic findings, treatment, and clinical course.
We found 4 cases, all in men (mean age, 60 years). Lesions were on the lower extremities in 3 patients and on the trunk in 1 patient. All had been in contact with soil that could have been contaminated by feces and was the most likely source of the parasite. The lesions disappeared after treatment with oral albendazole.
The appearance of cases of autochthonous LM in Europe requires investigation of the culprit species, a review of the epidemiology of this infection, which was once considered imported, and the planning of public health measures to prevent it from becoming endemic.