A Case of Paragonimus westermani Infection Diagnosed by Serological Testing / General Medicine

<b>BACKGROUND</b>: We describe a 40-year-old Thai woman living in Japan who was transferred to Juntendo University Hospital after lung cancer was suspected. Chest X-ray showed a nodular lesion and pleural effusion in the left lung. Laboratory data showed eosinophilia. She denied having consumed raw or undercooked food at the initial interview. Microplate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for Paragonimus westermani specific immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibody was positive at a high titer, confirming the diagnosis of P. westermani infection. She was successfully treated with oral praziquantel. All primary practitioners should be aware that paragonimiasis is an important pulmonary disease that can cause nodular lesions on chest X-ray.

Overwhelming Pneumococcal Infection Due to Congenital Hyposplenism or Asplenia in Adults / General Medicine

We recently encountered a case of fatal pneumococcal infection in a previously healthy 19-year-old female. She had no history of splenectomy, but on autopsy she was found to have hyposplenism. It has been widely reported that life-threatening pneumococcal infection can occur after splenectomy, though cases of hyposplenic or asplenic adults, without a history of splenectomy, are very rare. We report this case and review the literature dealing with 6 similar cases.

Polycystic Kidney Complicated by Cholangiocellular Carcinoma Presenting as Fever of Unknown Origin / General Medicine

We report the case of a 59-year-old man who presented with classical-type fever of unknown origin (FUO) during observation of hypertension and polycystic kidney. The presence of malignancy was suspected based on elevation of tumor marker levels. We examined the patient carefully and attempted diagnostic imaging, but definitive diagnosis was difficult due to the presence of multiple hepatic cysts. Hepatic biopsy detected adenocarcinoma, but identifying whether lesions were primary cholangiocellular carcinoma or metastases was difficult, and we were ultimately unable to diagnose the tumors as cholangiocellular carcinoma until autopsy. Polycystic kidney with hepatic cysts and complicated by cholangiocellular carcinoma is rare, but should be considered among the differential diagnosis for FUO, which itself is frequently encountered.