Imported Amoebic Liver Abscess in France

Background:worldwide,amoebic liver abscess (ala) can be found in individuals in non-endemic areas,especially in foreign-born travelers.methods:we performed a retrospective analysis of ala in patients admitted to french hospitals between 2002 and 2006. we compared imported ala cases in european and foreign-born patients and assessed the factors associated with abscess size using a logistic regression model.results:we investigated 90 ala cases. patient median age was 41. the male:female ratio was 3.5:1. we were able to determine the origin for 75 patients: 38 were european-born and 37 foreign-born. with respect to clinical characteristics,no significant difference was observed between european and foreign-born patients except a longer lag time between the return to france after traveling abroad and the onset of symptoms for foreign-born. factors associated with an abscess size of more than 69 mm were being male (or = 11.25,p<0.01),aged more than 41 years old (or = 3.63,p = 0.02) and being an immigrant (or = 11.56,p = 0.03). percutaneous aspiration was not based on initial abscess size but was carried out significantly more often on patients who were admitted to surgical units (or = 10,p<0.01). the median time to abscess disappearance for 24 ala was 7.5 months.conclusions/significance:in this study on imported ala was one of the largest worldwide in terms of the number of cases included males,older patients and foreign-born patients presented with larger abscesses,suggesting that hormonal and immunological factors may be involved in ala physiopathology. the long lag time before developing ala after returning to a non-endemic area must be highlighted to clinicians so that they will consider entamoeba histolytica as a possible pathogen of liver abscesses more often. © 2013 cordel et al.