ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To report one case of bilharziasis treated at our centre and to briefly comment the literature in the current context of increase of parasitical diseases in Europe, imported from the Third World by immigrants and tourists. METHODS: We report the case of a male patient from a Central African country referred to our department due to penile pain with painful voiding and ejaculation for several months, without other clinical symptoms. We performed a bibliographic search in the PubMed and Up-to-date databases with the following search terms: schistosomiasis, bilharziasis, hematuria, bladder infection, parasitosis, combined by boolean operators. RESULTS: After cystoscopy and pathologic study of the biological material the final diagnosis was chronic bilharziasis. The patient remains asymptomatic 14 months after treatment with praziquantel. CONCLUSIONS: Bilharziasis or schistosomiasis is a rare parasite disease, potentially severe which can severely compromise the urinary tract. In developed countries the cases are mainly imported from sub-saharian countries and other areas of North Africa, South Africa, Asia and Middle East. The cause is a parasite, Schistosoma haematobium, from the family of trematodes, genus helmints. In the active phasee the diagnosis is facilitated by the presence of Schistosomal eggs in urine. In latent or non active phase it is necessary the performance of cystoscopy and analysis of the biological material to reach the diagnosis.
