Here we reported the first case in Taiwan of human intestinal myiasis caused by larvae of Telmatoscopus albipunctatus. The 21-year-old male patient experienced gastroenteritis and anal itching. During the patient's first hospital visit the doctor suspected Enterobius infection. After treatment with anthelmintic mebendazole, 5 live larvae were passed out in the feces. Symptoms were resolved a few days later. The larvae were brown and slender, measuring approximately 10 mm in length. The worms were located in the intestine. Subsequent examination showed that the cause was an infestation of larvae of T. albipunctatus. The patient was likely infected by ingestion of eggs or early-stage larvae in contaminated food.
28 March 2006 in International Journal of Experimental Pathology
Toxocara canis, a source of visceral larva migrans, causes toxocariasis and induces respiratory symptoms. The reasons by which the pulmonary pathological alteration in the lungs infected with T. canis remain unclear. The involvement of the pulmonary pathological alteration by histology, enzyme activity, and Western blot analysis in the lungs of BALB/c mice after the infection of 2000 embryonated eggs. The pathological effects gradually increased after the infection culminated in severe leukocyte infiltration and hemorrhage from days 4-14 post-inoculation. Gelatin zymography using substrate showed that the relative activity of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) -9 and MMP-2 significantly increased in T. canis-infected mice. Western blot analysis indicated that the MMPs protein level of fibronectin monomer significantly increased in T. canis-infected mice compared with that in uninfected control. T. canis larvae mainly initiated leukocyte infiltration and hemorrhage in the lungs. These phenomena subsequently induced the activities of MMPs in parallel with the pathological changes in early stage pulmonary inflammation. In conclusion, T. canis larval migration activated the MMPs and caused pulmonary pathogenesis.