Serological Diagnosis and Follow-Up of Human Cystic Echinococcosis: A New Hope for the Future?

Serological Diagnosis and Follow-Up of Human Cystic Echinococcosis: A New Hope for the Future?

Manzano-Román R, Sánchez-Ovejero C, Hernández-González A, Casulli A, Siles-Lucas M.

Biomed Res Int. 2015;2015:428205. doi: 10.1155/2015/428205. Epub 2015 Oct 4.

Review.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a human chronic disease driven by the growth of echinococcal cysts in different organs. Prognosis of this disease depends on multiple factors, including location, number, size, and stage of the cysts, making CE a disease of complex management.

Only experts’ recommendations are available but no evidence-based conclusions have been drawn for CE clinical management. One of those pitfalls refers to the lack of evidence to support the use of serological tools for the diagnosis and follow-up of CE patients. In this review, we present the last advances in this field, proposing the use of serology to support cyst stage-specific diagnosis and follow-up.