Solitary Intramuscular Cysticercosis, a Case Report from 47-year-old Man

Abstract

Cysticercosis is a common parasitic infection in developing countries involving the central nervous system (CNS), adnexal structures of the eye, skeletal muscle, and subcutaneous tissue. The principal mechanism of transmission is through ingestion of Taenia Solium eggs or contamination of fruits and vegetables fertilized with contaminated faecal materials. The eggs hatch within the small intestine and larvae travel to through blood vessels to the subcutaneous tissue, muscle, CNS, eye and other tissues where they eventually form cyst with host inflammatory response. The clinical features are variable from painful or painless swelling in the subcutaneous tissue to neurocysticercosis comprising of symptomatic headache, seizures and focal neurologic deficit. Solitary intramuscular cysticercosis without CNS involvement have also been reported, although it is rare. Thus, we present a case of solitary intramuscular cysticercosis involving bicep muscle in a 47-year-old engineer, a rare site without any neurologic or systemic manifestation.