A Nasopharyngeal Human Infestation Caused by Linguatula serrata Nymphs in Van Province: A Case Report

Abstract

The reason for the presentation of this case is that Linguatula serrata, a parasite rarely encountered in humans, was found in a patient in Van province. The patient, who was 26 years old, lived in Erciş a town in Van province, East Turkey. She was admitted to the Outpatient Clinic of Infectious Diseases of Erciş Government Hospital with a complaint of coughing a few worms about 4 cm long from the oral cavity, and also sore throat, partial voice loss and vomiting. The polyclinic doctor suspected that the worm was a parasite but he could not make a diagnosis, and the patient was referred to Health Research and Training Hospital, Yüzüncü Yıl University. The parasite was examined in the Parasitology Laboratory and it was observed that this parasite was the nymph of L. serrata whose mouth was surrounded with four hooks and had approximately 90 body segments with small hooks. No medical treatment was given to the patient except that gargling with saline solution was recommended. As a result, we think that physicians should consider L. serrata infestation in patients applying to health foundations with complaints such as pharyngitis accompanied by pharyngeal pain, coughing, sneezing and vomiting. (Turkiye Parazitol Derg 2011; 35: 47-9) (Turkiye Parazitol Derg 2011; 35: 47-9) Anahtar Sözcükler: Linguatula serrata, insan, Van, TürkiyeGeliş Tarihi: 12.02

The prevalence of Linguatula serrata nymphs in camels slaughtered in Mashhad slaughterhouse, Northeast, Iran

“…Human infection is as the result of ingestion of third stage larvae of L.serrata found in raw liver or lymph nodes of sheep, goats, cattle and camels. Ingestion of L. serrata nymphs can cause halzoun or marrara syndrome that is often characterized by inflammation of the upper respiratory tract, swelling of the submaxillary and cervical lymph nodes and occasionally abscess formation in the eyes or ears [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]9] , Sporadic incidence of halzoun in humans has also been reported in Iran [7] . The high prevalence of infection observed in ruminants is of concern owing to the zoonotic nature of the parasite and the risk of infection to humans and other animals.…”

Status of Linguatula serrata infection in livestock: A systematic review with meta-analysis in Iran

“…serrata has also been reported. Yilmaz et al reported a 26 year old woman in Van Province complaining of coughing Yilmaz et al (2011) . Also, a pentastomiasis case in a 70 year old native farmer from Keningau, Sabah, East Malaysia was reported in 2011 with a one-month history of upper abdominal discomfort, weight loss, anorexia, jaundice, and dark urine.…”

Prevalence of Linguatula serrata infection among dogs (definitive host) and domestic ruminants (intermediate host) in the North West of Iran

“…A 28-year-old woman affected with linguatulosis and with respiratory symptoms, including sneezing and nasal discharge, representing the clinical signs of Marrara was described in Iran (Maleky, 2001). Human nasopharyngel linguatulosis was also reported from the Van Province of Turkey close to the North Western region of Iran (Yilmaz et al, 2011). Several other studies have assessed the prevalence of L. serrata in dogs (Khalil, 1970;Akyol et al, 1995;Oryan et al, 1997;Meshgi and Asgarian, 2003;Aldemir, 2004;Oryan et al, 2008), one-humped camels (Mobedi et al, 1988;Oryan et al, 1993;Tajik et al, 2007;Haddadzadeh et al, 2010;Radfar et al, 2010), two-humped camels (Haddadzadeh et al, 2009), buffaloes (Sisakumar et al, 2005;Tajik et al, 2008;Jalali, 2010), sheep (Esmail-Nia et al, 2000;Shekarforoush et al, 2004;Tavassoli et al, 2007a;Ravindran et al, 2008;Gul et al, 2009;Fard et al, 2011), cattle (Tajik et al, 2006;Hami et al, 2009;Fard et al, 2010b;Youssef and Hadizedeh-Moalem, 2010), goats (Saiyari et al, 1996;Razavi et al, 2004;Tavassoli et al, 2007b;Mir et al, 2009;Fard et al, 2010a;) and small ruminants (Vatsya et al, 2011).…”