Echinococcosis is a parasitic disease of tapeworms of the Echinococcus type. The two main types of the disease are cystic echinococcosis and alveolar echinococcosis. Less common forms include polycystic echinococcosis and unicystic echinococcosis.The disease often starts without symptoms and this may last for years. The symptoms and signs that occur depend on the cysts location and size. Alveolar disease usually begins in the liver, but can spread to other parts of the body, such as the lungs or brain. When the liver is affected, the patient may experience abdominal pain, weight loss, along with yellow-toned skin discoloration from developed jaundice. Lung disease may cause pain in the chest, shortness of breath, and coughing.The infection is spread when food or water that contains the eggs of the parasite is ingested or by close contact with an infected animal. The eggs are released in the stool of meat-eating animals that are infected by the parasite. Commonly infected animals include dogs, foxes, and wolves. For these animals to become infected they must eat the organs of an animal that contains the cysts such as sheep or rodents. The type of disease that occurs in human patients depends on the type of Echinococcus causing the infection. Diagnosis is usually by ultrasound though computer tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may also be used. Blood tests looking for antibodies against the parasite may be helpful as may biopsy.Prevention of cystic disease is by treating dogs that may carry the disease and vaccination of sheep. Treatment is often difficult.
In fact, even in cases of omphalitis without evidence of more serious infection such as necrotizing fasciitis, mortality is high (in the 10% range). Causes
Omphalitis is most commonly caused by bacteria. The culprits usually are Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus, and Escherichia coli. The infection is typically caused by a combination of these organisms and is a mixed Gram-positive and Gram-negative infection. Anaerobic bacteria can also be involved. Diagnosis
In a normal umbilical stump, you first see the umbilicus lose its characteristic bluish-white, moist appearance and become dry and black  After several days to weeks, the stump should fall off and leave a pink fleshy wound which continues to heal as it becomes a normal umbilicus.For an infected umbilical stump, diagnosis is usually made by the clinical appearance of the umbilical cord stump and the findings on history and physical examination. There may be some confusion, however, if a well-appearing neonate simply has some redness around the umbilical stump. In fact, a mild degree is common, as is some bleeding at the stump site with detachment of the umbilical cord. The picture may be clouded even further if caustic agents have been used to clean the stump or if silver nitrate has been used to cauterize granulomata of the umbilical stump. Prevention
During the 1950s there were outbreaks of omphalitis that then led to anti-bacterial treatment of the umbilical cord stump as the new standard of care.