DESCRIPTION OF A CASE OF CERCARIASIS IN A 3-YEAR-OLD CHILD

Mikhailina Eleonora Andreevna, Afonina Ekaterina Sergeevna

Doctors of different specialties face the problem of schistosomal dermatitis, or cercariosis, the differential diagnosis of which can be difficult due to the similarity of clinical manifestations with allergic diseases and dermatitis of various etiologies. Cerkaryosis is a parasitic disease, the main host of which are waterfowl, and the intermediate one is freshwater mollusks living in the coastal zone of reservoirs. Humans are a biological dead end for parasites: penetrating into the skin and causing a toxic-allergic rash ("itch of bathers", "water itch", schistosomatid dermatitis), cercariae die within 3-5 weeks. In the presented clinical case, cercarial dermatitis in a 3-year–old child is described in the form of maculopapular itchy rashes on the skin of the forearms, shins, buttocks - places of contact with water when playing a child in the coastal zone of a freshwater lake with the presence of wild ducks. The differential diagnosis was carried out with atopic and contact dermatitis. The described case is of interest to general practitioners and narrow specialists, since it requires not only differential diagnosis with other dermatoses, but also as an occasion for conducting social and educational conversations with parents about the danger of infection with cercariosis when bathing in reservoirs with waterfowl.

Keywords:children, cercariosis, schistosomal dermatitis, epidemiological history, itching of bathers