Anaphylactic shock after traumatic rupture of a splenic echinococcal cyst

Anaphylactic shock as a result of trauma is very rare. We describe a 20-year-old Druze soldier who presented with anaphylactic shock due to rupture of a splenic echinococcal cyst induced by blunt trauma to the left chest wall and upper abdomen. The main clinical manifestations, which developed within minutes of the trauma, were high fever, pruritus, edema of the lips and eyelids, dyspnea, stridor and rhinorrhea. Eosinophilia was not present on admission but appeared 4 days later. Surgery revealed an intact echinococcal cyst in the left lobe of the liver and another in the spleen. The splenic cyst was torn, filled with blood and its contents had spread throughout the splenic tissue, but without peritoneal spillage. Recovery was complete after splenectomy and resection of the hepatic hydatid cyst.