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Volume 3, Issue 7

A fatal combination of disseminated strongyloidiasis with two bacterial infections in an immunocompromised host Open Access

Abstract

is an intestinal nematode that is endemic in tropical countries. It can have a variable presentation ranging from asymptomatic eosinophilia in immunocompetent hosts to disseminated disease with sepsis in immunocompromised hosts.

We report a case of chronic diarrhoea and decreased appetite in a 53-year-old man. He was a chronic alcoholic with diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidaemia and had earlier been treated for pulmonary tuberculosis. He was treated symptomatically for loose stools at a primary health care facility without relief. Following referral to our tertiary care centre, microscopic examination of the stool showed numerous larvae and a few eggs of . Additionally, was isolated from stool culture. The patient was discharged following improvement with a combination therapy of ivermectin, albendazole and ciprofloxacin. However, within 3 days, he was readmitted and succumbed to sepsis.

Strongyloidiasis can be diagnosed easily using a very simple but often neglected investigation, namely stool microscopy. This provides an early diagnosis, based on which prompt treatment with the appropriate antihelminthics can be started, thereby reducing the probability of disseminated infection. Disseminated strongyloidiasis is a medical emergency with a poor prognosis, especially in an immunocompromised state. Such patients should be treated aggressively with antihelminthics. They must be monitored for sufficient duration in the hospital for early signs of complication. Their discharge from hospital should be planned based on a negative stool microscopy report in addition to clinical improvement, so as to decrease the mortality reported for both untreated and treated individuals.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): Aeromonas sobria , disseminated strongyloidiasis , hyperinfection syndrome and Strongyloides stercoralis
© 2021 The Authors
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The Microbiology Society waived the open access fees for this article.
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2021-07-22
2024-05-12
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A fatal combination of disseminated strongyloidiasis with two bacterial infections in an immunocompromised host
Access Microbiology 3, 000246 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1099/acmi.0.000246
/content/journal/acmi/10.1099/acmi.0.000246
/content/journal/acmi/10.1099/acmi.0.000246
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