Parasitic brain infections
From IDWiki
Differential Diagnosis
| Parasite | Disease | Lesion | Clinical Clues |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protozoa | |||
| Balamuthia mandrillaris and Acanthamoeba species | Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis | single or multiple ring-enhancing lesions in the gray and white matter with surrounding edema and mass effect | exposure to warm water |
| Leishmania species | Leishmaniasis | travel to endemic country | |
| Microsporidia species | Microsporidiasis | ||
| Naegleria fowleri | Primary amebic meningoencephalitis | global edema, stroke, and elevated intracranial pressure, most commonly in the base of the brain | exposure to warm water, rapid progression |
| Plasmodium species | Malaria | ||
| Toxoplasma gondii | Toxoplasmosis | ||
| Trypanosoma brucei | African trypanosomiasis | diffuse hyperintensity on T1 usually involving bilateral basal ganglia | |
| Trypanosoma cruzi | Chagas disease | contrast-enhancing hypointense T1 lesions involving only the parietal and frontal lobes, with edema on T2 | |
| Metazoa: Trematodes | |||
| Paragonimus species | Paragonimiasis | inflammatory changes surrounding clusters of contrast-enhancing lesions, most commonly in the frontal and temporal gray and white matter | |
| Schistosoma species | Schistosomiasis | central linear enhancement, clustered with arborized appearance, and commonly involves spinal cord with Schistosoma haematobium | |
| Metazoa: Cestodes | |||
| Echinococcus granulosus | Intracranial hydatidosis | multiple thin-walled, large, round cysts, or one large cyst with smaller surrounding cysts, most commonly in the parietal lobe | |
| Echinococcus multilocularis | Alveolar hydatid disease | contrast-enhancing round, solid lesions with surrounding edema on T2 | |
| Taenia solium | Neurocysticercosis | single or multiple ring-enhancing lesions, with calcifications if older | |
| Taenia species | Coenurosis | ||
| Spirometra species | Sparganosis | T2 edema, sometimes with T1 mass or linear or curvilinear contrast-enhancing lesions, most commonly involving frontal and parietal lobes | |
| Metazoa: Nematodes | |||
| Gnathostoma species | Gnathostomiasis | ||
| Angiostrongylus cantonensis | Angiostrongyliasis | ||
| Toxocara species | Toxocariasis | ||
| Strongyloides stercoralis | Strongyloidiasis | ||
| multiple | Filariasis | ||
| Baylisascaris procyonis | Baylisascariasis | ||
| Dracuncula medinensis | Dracunculiasis | ||
| Dicrocoelium dendriticum | Dicrocoeliasis | ||
| Lagochilascaris species | Lagochilascariasis | ||
Further Reading
- Parasitic diseases of the central nervous system: lessons for clinicians and policy makers. Expert Rev Neurother. 2016;16(4): 401–414. doi: 10.1586/14737175.2016.1155454
