Abstract

ALMANNONI, Saleh Ali et al. Cutaneous manifestations of giardiasis - an overdimensioned health problem. Rev Cubana Med Trop [online]. 2008, vol.60, n.3. ISSN 0375-0760.

OBJECTIVE: to make a clinical and parasitological characterization of a group of patients, who had been or would be treated in the healthcare facilities of the City of Havana, due to their cutaneous manifestations attributed to giardiasis. METHODS: after the consent of their primary care physicians, 114 subjects, who had been or would be treated because of their giardiasis-attributed skin lesions, were referred to "Pedro Kourí" Institute of Tropical Medicine. On their arrival, the research team physicians characterized each patient according to their clinical manifestations. They were asked to collect their feces for serial sampling, which were subjected to chropological tests through direct simple smears and Ritchie´s concentration procedures. In those cases where microscopic observation of samples did not allow confirming Giardia lamblia infection, biliary drainage was performed to look for giardias in the corresponding duodenal fluid. The patients whose feces or duodenal fluid showed G.lamblia were instructed to follow an anti-giardiasis treatment and the necessary hygienic-sanitary measures to prevent re-infection. Three months after concluding the parasiticidal treatment, the above-mentioned tests were repeated. RESULTS: it was proved that the cutaneous manifestations of giardiasis in the City of Havana are an overdimensioned health problem. It was also confirmed that urticaria is the most frequent giardiasis-associated dermatological manifestation. CONCLUSIONS: once the overdimension of giardiasis as a cause of skin lesions is proven, it is necessary to explore the knowledge, perceptions and practice of physicians in charge of diagnosis, treatment and control of this disease.

Keywords : Giardiasis; giardia lamblia; cutaneous manifestations; overdimension.