Zheng JH, Xue LY. Disseminated strongyloidiasis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2022; 10(18): 6163-6167 [PMID: 35949857 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i18.6163]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Lu-Yu Xue, Doctor, Occupational Physician, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, No. 12 Middle Urumqi Road, Shanghai 200040, China. icuxueluyu@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Critical Care Medicine
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Jun 26, 2022; 10(18): 6163-6167 Published online Jun 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i18.6163
Disseminated strongyloidiasis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis: A case report
Jin-Hao Zheng, Lu-Yu Xue
Jin-Hao Zheng, Lu-Yu Xue, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Author contributions: Zheng JH designed the study, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; Xue LY contributed to study conception and design and revision of the manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from the patient. The participant consented to the submission of the case report to the Journal.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist(2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist(2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Lu-Yu Xue, Doctor, Occupational Physician, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, No. 12 Middle Urumqi Road, Shanghai 200040, China. icuxueluyu@163.com
Received: October 28, 2021 Peer-review started: October 28, 2021 First decision: March 7, 2022 Revised: March 16, 2022 Accepted: April 22, 2022 Article in press: April 22, 2022 Published online: June 26, 2022
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Strongyloidiasis is usually a chronic infection but it can develop into a fatal disease in immunosuppressed patients.
CASE SUMMARY
A 68-year-old male with rheumatoid arthritis was treated with a variety of immunosuppressants for the past 3 years. Recently, the patient presented with a partial small-bowel obstruction, petechia, coughing and peripheral neuropathy. The diagnosis was difficult to clarify in other hospitals. Our hospital found Strongyloides stercoralis larvae with active movement in the routine stool and sputum smears. The diagnosis of disseminated strongyloidiasis was established. Ivermectin combined with albendazole was used for treatment. The patient responded to therapy and was discharged.
CONCLUSION
This case underscores the importance of comprehensive differential diagnosis in immunocompromised patients.
Core Tip: Strongyloidiasis is usually a chronic infection but it can develop into a fatal disease in immunosuppressed patients. Here, we present a case of an immunocompromised patient with disseminated strongyloidiasis that was ignored by other hospitals. We discuss the challenges of diagnosis and the treatment. Since the disease was widespread, ivermectin combined with albendazole was used for treatment. This case underscores the importance of comprehensive differential diagnosis in immunocompromised patients.
