TY - JOUR T1 - Post-Treatment Follow-Up Study of Abdominal Cystic Echinococcosis in Tibetan Communities of Northwest Sichuan Province, China A1 - Li, Tiaoying A1 - Ito, Akira A1 - Pengcuo, Renqing A1 - Sako, Yasuhito A1 - Chen, Xingwang A1 - Qiu, Dongchuan A1 - Xiao, Ning A1 - Craig, Philip S. Y1 - 2011/10/25 N2 - Author Summary Cystic echinococcosis is a serious public health problem in Tibetan communities of northwest Sichuan Province, China. Antiparasitic treatment with albendazole remains the only choice in most cases, due to the poor socio-economy and inadequate hospital facilities in this area. A post-treatment follow-up study was carried out in community-detected 49 CE cases by application of abdominal ultrasound and serology with recombinant antigen B (rAgB) in a Tibetan region of Sichuan from 2006 to 2008. Following 6 to 30 months regular albendazole therapy, 32.7% of CE cases were considered cured at ultrasound, 49.0% were classed as improved, 14.3% remained unchanged or static, and 4.1% of cases became aggravated. The treatment course for cure was longer in patients with CE2 type cyst pathology compared to cases with CE1, CE3a or CE3b type cysts. In addition, patients with large cysts (≥10 cm) had a longer curative duration compared to those with medium cysts (5–10 cm) or small cysts (<5c m). The changes of serum specific IgG antibody levels against rAgB were not strongly associated with the viability of cystic echinococcal lesions, however, post-treatment specific IgG antibody positive sero-conversion in initially seronegative CE1 patients, was an indicator for the albendazole efficacy in specific CE patients. JF - PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases JA - PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases VL - 5 IS - 10 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001364 SP - e1364 EP - PB - Public Library of Science M3 - doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001364 ER -