Strongyloidiasis

Strongyloidiasis – General Information

Worm infections are challenging and very hard to treat, causing severe damage to the patient’s organism. People who develop this type of medical condition should be aware of the damages caused by parasites. One of the most common intestinal infections, Strongyloidiasis is caused by a parasitic nematode called Strongyloides stercoralis. This type of medical disorder is really mild, but dangerous because the parasite has a distinctive characteristic: it has the ability to live and to reproduce within its host for decades, producing minimal or no symptoms while the disease progresses causing life threatening infections, such as a disseminated from of this disorder or hyperinfection syndrome. More prone to develop Strongyloidiasis and further complications are the people with a compromised immune system.

The immunocompetent patients suffer from an asymptomatic and chronic form of Strongyloidiasis that causes negligible death. If it reaches to more advanced stages (because the diagnosis is often delayed), the infections have a high mortality and morbidity rate (up to 90%). Endemic areas are found in the subtropical and tropical countries, or in the Appalachia region and rural areas of the southeastern states of the United States. More than 60 million people from all around the world develop this infectious disease and most cases were reported in the Southeast Asia, West Africa and the Caribbean. It is well known that as many other worm health problems, this one too has no predilection for a specific ethnic, sex or race group. People of any age acquire it, although children are more sensitive to it.

Strongyloidiasis – Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of worm infections depend on what worm is responsible for the disease, the age and health status of the patient and the stage of the respective medical disorder. People should know all the most important manifestations of Strongyloidiasis because an early diagnosis and a rapid treatment may assure them a full recovery in a short period of time. We will present you some of the most common signs and symptoms of Strongyloidiasis, but we inform you that our list may not be complete because all the manifestations depend mainly on the resistance of the patient’s immune system. For further information or if you have any questions, we advise you to contact your health care provider or any other trained specialist in worm infections.

This type of medical condition has three stages, each characterized by certain signs. The first stage is acute and includes: epigastric discomfort or tenderness, wheezing, nausea and vomiting, cough, lower extremity itching, low grade fever, diarrhea, or pruritic erythematous maculopapules at the site where the larvae penetrated the skin, especially on the feet. During the second stage, called chronic Strongyloidiasis, the patients can experience one or more of the following: intermittent diarrhea or constipation, chronic urticaria, vague abdominal discomfort, occasional nausea and vomiting, epigastric tenderness, recurrent rashes, abdominal cramping, burning or pain, weight loss (if the infestation is heavy) etc. The third stage is severe and causes more complicated symptoms, for example bloody diarrhea, high fever, altered mental status, respiratory distress, occasionally abrupt and insidious onset, stiff neck, confusion etc.

Strongyloidiasis – Treatment

Worm infections are challenging to diagnose and to treat because, in most cases, they are asymptomatic in the first stages and when they are noticed, they have reached to severe stages, affecting the patient’s quality of life. Most of them have common characteristics and can be easily mistaken if the diagnosis is not checked in more detail. We strongly advise you to call your health care provider or a specialist in this type of medical condition as soon as you start experiencing any of the signs and symptoms that we have listed above and are specific for Strongyloidiasis, Also, consult with a doctor even if you suspect you have been infested. During the medical examination you will be asked about the manifestations you accuse and about your personal medical history. Then, the health care provider will perform a physical exam. In order to set the exact diagnosis and to rule out other similar medical conditions, the health professional may want to perform several tests.

When dealing with worm infections as Strongyloidiasis, visualization of larvae in a stool sample is very useful and successful in many cases. Sampling of a proximal small bowel by aspiration may also be useful. Other internal lesions, for example suspicious jejunal or duodenal lesions are checked with the help of an endoscopy that permits biopsies. The larvae may be found even in the bronchial washings, urine, ascetic or plural fluid, duodenal contents or sputum. Another efficient test is the ELISA (enzyme-linked imunosorbent assay) test that may sometimes show false results. After the health care provider sets the exact diagnosis, he or she can proceed immediately with the adequate treatment option. The main aims of a therapy for Strongyloidiasis are to kill the parasite and to relieve the symptoms. Usually, the medication therapy is the most commonly used treatment option because doctors prescribe powerful drugs that can easily eliminate the parasite. Ivermectin is probably the most popular drug when dealing with a disease like Strongyloidiasis. Health care providers prescribe it as Stromectol, once a day, for two to four days. Sometimes, it can be administered as a single dose, given at an interval of fifteen days.

This drug has great results if the infection is not complicated and if the patient’s tolerates it well. Albendazole is also an efficient alternative drug prescribed under the trade mark as Albenza, 400 mg divided in two doses for at least three days. When following a treatment option based on this medicine, failure may often occur. If Strongyloidiasis is more severe, causing serious complications, health care providers usually prescribe a combination of these two drugs. The results must be always verified and the patient monitored and reexamined. To see if the treatment option worked, stool examination is usually repeated. Another drug that is used against this disease is Thiabendazole, prescribed as Mintezol. All the recommendations of the health care provider must be followed strictly. Try to avoid losing a dose or over dosing. Otherwise, you may develop adverse effects that interfere in the process of healing and delay the results.