Lack of an association between hydatid disease and autoimmunity

Abstract

The prolonged survival of Echinococcus granulosus within the human host indicates that some mechanism is operating to permit parasite evasion of the host immune response. Several publications have described autoimmune phenomena in patients infected with hydatid cysts. The aim of this study was to test the postulate that there is a higher prevalence of autoantibodies in serum from patients with hydatid disease than in control samples, and this may provide some evidence of an association between autoimmunity andE. granulosus infection. Sera from 70 patients with hydatid disease and 45 control subjects were assayed for the presence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA), tissue specific autoantibodies..