This study examined Echinococcus spp. genotypes and genetic variants isolated from humans as well as domestic and wild animals from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Area using the cox1 gene. All samples except the pika isolates were identified as the Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto. Sixteen different haplotypes with considerable intraspecific variation were detected and characterized in mitochondrial cox1 sequences. The parsimonious network of cox1 haplotypes showed star-like features, and the neutrality indexes computed via Tajima's D and Fu's Fs tests showed high negative values in E. granulosus s. s., indicating deviations from neutrality; the Fst values were low among the populations, implying that the populations were not genetically differentiated. The pika isolates were identified as E. multilocularis and E. shiquicus. Only one haplotype was recognized in the pika isolates. E. granulosus s. s. was the predominant species found in animals and humans, followed by E. multilocularis and E. shiquicus, with high genetic diversity circulating among the animals and humans in this area. Further studies are needed to cover many sample collection sites and larger numbers of pathogen isolates, which may reveal abundant strains and/or other haplotypes in the hydatid cysts infecting human and animal populations of the QTPA, China.

There are substantial knowledge gaps, practice variation, and paucity of controlled trials owing to the relatively small number of patients with critical heart disease. The Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society has recognised this knowledge gap as an area needing a more comprehensive and evidence-based approach to the management of the critically ill child with heart disease. To address this, the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society created a scientific statements and white papers committee. Scientific statements and white papers will present the current state-of-the-art in areas where controversy exists, providing clinicians with guidance in diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, particularly where evidence-based data are lacking. This paper provides a template for other societies and organisations faced with the task of developing scientific statements and white papers. We describe the methods used to perform a systematic literature search and evidence rating that will be used by all scientific statements and white papers emerging from the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society. The Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society aims to revolutionise the care of children with heart disease by shifting our efforts from individual institution-based practices to national standardised protocols and to lay the ground work for multicentre high-impact research directions.

Hydatid disease is a zoonotic parasitic infection endemic in livestock-raising countries. Isolated cardiac hydatid cyst is a very rare disease, and chest pain, palpitations, cough, and dyspnoea are the most common presenting symptoms. Here a case of isolated cardiac hydatid cyst in a female patient with chest pain and electrocardiographic changes mimicking myocardial ischaemia is presented.

We describe the clinical presentation and management of a cardiac hydatid cyst in a young girl.

Isolated cardiac involvement in hydatid disease is very rare. We report the case of a young adult male who presented to the emergency department with acute onset of chest pain and was surprisingly detected to have a hydatid cyst in the left ventricular myocardium. The transthoracic echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging confirmed the diagnosis. Cardiac hydatid disease should be considered in the differential diagnosis of chest pain in young individuals in the absence of conventional risk factors of atherosclerosis.

Murine monoclonal and polyclonal antisera, raised against the 38 kDa subunit of Echinococcus granulosus antigen 5, were used to investigate the tissue distribution of the antigen in hydatid cysts. Immunoreactivity was visualized by indirect immunofluorescence on whole protoscoleces, and ultrastructural immunocytochemistry utilizing colloidal gold-based labelling procedures on unsectioned and cryosectioned brood capsules and protoscoleces. In protoscoleces, the 38 kDa subunit of antigen 5 was localized at the interface of parenchymal cells and associated extracellular matrices, as well as along the interface of the tegumentary syncytium in the somal region and its basal matrix. Cytoplasmic labelling of parenchymal cells was rare; when observed, it was associated with vesicles and membranes in cytoplasmic extensions of parenchymal cells. In brood capsules, the antigen was associated with the external face of the plasma of degenerating parenchymal cells. The 38 kDa subunit occurs along the extracellular face of cell membranes, suggesting that antigen 5 is either a component of the membranes or associated extracellular matrices.

An unusual case of Echinococcus oligarthrus infestation of the submandibular salivary gland is reported. Echinococcus oligarthrus is a rare variant of the Echinococcus species affecting humans. To the best of our knowledge only one case of submandibular hydatid cyst caused by Echinococcus oligarthrus has been reported. A 28-year-old female patient was admitted with a progressively increasing swelling in the left submandibular region of four years’ duration. There was no pulmonary or hepatic involvement. The present case of submandibular hydatid cyst caused by Echinococcus oligarthrus is of interest because of the unusual site of the disease.