ABSTRACT
Anisakiasis, or anisakidosis, is a parasitic zoonosis due to the infestation by nematodes of the Anisakidae family, mainly by Anisakis simplex. Notwithstanding its world wide distribution, in our country its appearance is quite recent (1991) with only 19 cases previously reported. We refer 13 cases diagnosed in different hospitals in the province of Córdoba, Spain, from September 1994 to July 1998 which represents the biggest series described in Spain so far. All the patients had a clinical onset as acute abdomen, so that they required early surgery in which a narrowing and inflammatory intestinal segment was observed and subsequently resected. Pathology revealed in such segments an intense eosinophilic infiltrate in the mucosa. Only in one of the cases parasitic fragments were detected in the intestinal mucosa and in the 12 remaining cases the diagnosis was immunological by IgE specific for Anisakis simplex determination and antigens detection of the nematode with monoclonal antibodies. As interesting epidemiologic antecedent we shall mention the fact that all patients referred a usual raw fish consumption (mainly anchovy with vinegar) which is host of third-stage larval of the parasite.
