A case of infection with Gongylonema is described in a 41-year-old woman living in new york city. The patient sought medical attention with the complaint of a sensation of 1-year duration of something moving in her mouth. On two occasions she removed worms from her mouth, once from her lip, once from the gum. One of the specimens submitted for examination was an adult female Gongylonema. It is not possible to say whether the infection was acquired in new york city, or elsewhere, since the patient traveled frequently to mississippi to visit relatives. As cases of delusional parasitosis continue to increase, clinicians and laboratorians alike need to be alert to the possibility that foreign objects removed from the mouth, or elsewhere, may indeed represent unusual parasitic infections, and that these objects should be examined before being discarded. ( info) |
2/46. Three cases of human gnathostomiasis caused by gnathostoma hispidum, with particular reference to the identification of parasitic larvae. Human gnathostomiasis is well known to be caused by gnathostoma spinigerum, G. hispidum, G. doloresi and G. nipponicum in japan. In the present reported cases, skin biopsies were performed on three Japanese patients. As a result, cross sections of the larvae were clearly observed in the biopsied specimens. All cross sectioned larvae had an intestinal canal, which consisted from 25-35 cells. A large nucleus was observed at the center of each intestinal cell. The morphological features completely correlated with the characteristics of larval G. hispidum. Based on these findings, all three human cases were thus determined to be confirmed cases of gnathostomiasis caused by G. hispidum. ( info) |
A woman from bangladesh who had lived in germany for more than 2 years presented with migratory, painful swellings on her left hand and arm of 5 months duration. Laboratory examinations yielded a marked eosinophilia and a grossly elevated IgE level in combination with an inflammatory reaction restricted to the subcutaneous tissues. A preliminary diagnosis of gnathostomiasis was established and confirmed by a positive gnathostoma serology by enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Treatment was initiated with albendazole, leading to the outward migration of a larva and complete resolution of clinical disease. Currently, there is no definitive therapy that has been proved to be both safe and highly effective. A wide range of potential agents has been used in clinical studies, but only albendazole has proved to be reliably effective to date, stimulating the outward migration of larvae in a proportion of cases of cutaneous disease, as observed in the present case. ( info) |
We report a rare case of intraocular gnathostomiasis, where a live worm, intracameral in location, was successfully removed. Its identity was confirmed by microscopy. ( info) |
5/46. Intracameral gnathostomiasins: a first case report from Pondicherry. In this communication, a first case of intracameral gnathostomiasis in a 34 years old woman in Pondicherry and its successful surgical removal is reported. The clinical presentation and epidemiology of the disease are discussed. ( info) |
gnathostomiasis is rarely reported in travelers, although the disease remains a major public health problem in Southeast asia. A creeping eruption and Quincke's edema (slowly migrating erythema with pruritus) appeared in two Japanese men who had eaten raw freshwater shrimp in myanmar. A gnathostoma larva was found in subcutaneous tissue from one of the men. Four species causing human gnathostomiasis, G. hispidum, G. doloresi, G. nipponicum and G. spinigerum, can be distinguished based on the number of nuclei in intestinal epithelial cells of infected larvae, in cross-section. In G. hispidum, only a single large nucleus is found. Morphologically, our larva was initially identified as G. hispidum. However, since the number of epithelial cells was greater and the body width was larger than those of a "large-type" 3rd-stage larva of G. hispidum, the larva was then identified as a 3rd-stage larva of G. malaysiae, Miyazaki and Dun, 1965, as reported by Setasuban et al, (1991). Since no human cases caused by this species of gnathostoma have previously been encountered, this appears to be the first report of gnathostomiasis due to G. malaysiae. ( info) |
7/46. Gongylonema infection of the mouth in a resident of Cambridge, massachusetts. We report a case of Gongylonema infection of the mouth, which caused a migrating, serpiginous tract in a resident of massachusetts. This foodborne infection, which is acquired through accidental ingestion of an infected insect, such as a beetle or a roach, represents the 11th such case reported in the united states. ( info) |
A 48-year-old French diplomat presented with a sensory-motor paraparesis of rapid onset, leading to paraplegia. Successive magnetic resonance image scans showed lesions of the thoracic spinal cord that were at different levels from one examination to the next. Specific anti-gnathostome antibodies were detected by means of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot test in both plasma and cerebrospinal fluid. albendazole treatment prevented disease progression, but only partial regression of the neurologic symptoms was obtained. ( info) |
9/46. ivermectin treatment of a traveler who returned from peru with cutaneous gnathostomiasis. We describe a 21-year-old patient who experienced a relapse of cutaneous gnathostomiasis after receiving initial treatment with albendazole and who had a successful outcome after receiving a short course of ivermectin for the relapse. This is the first reported case of gnathostomiasis acquired by a human in peru. ( info) |
10/46. A case of gnathostomiasis in a European traveller returning from mexico. Hundreds of human cases of gnathostomiasis have recently been reported from mexico, where the disease is becoming a public health problem. We report a case of gnathostomiasis in a French tourist returning from mexico. Tourists travelling in endemic countries are at risk of gnathostomiasis and should be advised about the risks of eating raw fish as a suspected source of infection. ( info) |