A young woman traveled by Thailand, Japan and Hawaii during the holiday. After returning home with her began to show unusual symptomshe writes
Her first symptom was fatigue, which was attributed to the so -called. Jet Laga. Subsequently, she began to feel headaches and burning in the feet that were transferred to the legs. A 30-year-old woman visited two hospitals, but doctors did not consider her condition serious enough to hospitalize. Subsequently, she was sent home with headache and anxiety drugs.
She turned to doctors for the third time when she began to appear confused. After further examinations, she was finally diagnosed Angiostrongyliasis – parasitic infection caused by roundworm angiostrongylus cannonensis. This infection is more known as the “Pulmonary Worm of the Rat”.
Most people have mild or no symptoms, but The parasite can infect the brain and cause headaches, neck stiffness, vomiting and brain or nerve problems. The parasite can also cause meningitis (eosinophilic meningitis), which is inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
The case of this woman was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Carlos A. Portales Castillo, who eventually treated her in Massachusetts General Hospital, was One of the authors of the case study. It also included Dr. Joseph Zunt, neurologist and infectious specialist who looked at what caused angiostrongyliasis in the patient.
“The first week of travel was spent by a woman in Bangkok, Thai, where she looked at the city and tried various street foods but avoided raw food. Then she spent five days in Japanese Tokyo, where she usually lived in a hotel and Most often you enjoyed sushi. In Hawaii, she bathed several times in the ocean and She often ate salads and sushi, ” said Castillo.
Zunt explained that The parasite “lung worm of the rat” is “endemic” in Hawaii and is easy to get. “The infection can be obtained from multiple sources, and that ingestion of raw or insufficient heat -treated infected slugs, ingestion of vegetables or fruits contaminated with infected slugs, bugs or slime of slugs containing infectious larvae or ingestion of infected Paratenic hosts (eg terrestrial crabs, freshwater shrimp or frogs) who consumed the infected slug, ”he explained.
A young beauty with a serious diagnosis was treated with steroid prednisone and anti -parasites that suppress the immune system. After six days she was released into home care. He is currently not suffering from any health problems.
