A study of pulmonary hydatid disease in children. 1. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics.

Between 1980 and 1994, 244 children (aged 1-15 years) with pulmonary hydatid disease underwent surgery at the Emergency Medical Institute 'N. I. Pirogov', Sofia, Bulgaria. The number of cases/year generally increased with time. Initial diagnosis, based on X-rays, ultrasonography and computed tomography, was confirmed by immunology. Cysts were either found in the lungs alone (178 cases) or in the lungs and the liver, spleen, kidneys, brain and/or diaphragm (66 cases). Most (61.1%) of the cases were boys and most cases (60.3%) were aged 8-15 years. Most (84.8%) had also had direct or indirect contact with dogs. The clinical manifestations were variable but the most frequent were cough, elevated body temperature, adynamia, chest pain and dyspnoea.