{"title":"Cerebral Manifestations of <i>Ascaris lumbricoides</i>.","authors":"Stephen B Tatter, Jonathan W Hopkins","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humans are the definitive host for the nematode, round-worm <i>Ascaris lumbricoides</i>, which generally produces only mild systemic symptoms. The authors report two cases of intestinal <i>A. lumbricoides</i> with concurrent cerebral manifestations. A 53-year-old Syrian woman with intestinal <i>A. lumbricoides</i> presented with a generalized seizure and a cerebral lesion that worsened for several days and then resolved after treatment with mebendazole. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a 2-cm lesion in the right mesial temporal lobe. The lesion was hypointense to brain on T<sub>1</sub>-weighted images and hyperintense on T<sub>2</sub>-weighted images. There was a small focus of central enhancement. The second patient, a 2-year-old girl, died of a brain abscess with six organisms, including <i>Neisseria mucosa</i>, <i>Eikenella corrodens</i>, and microaerophillic streptococcus. The hypothesis that <i>A. lumbricoides</i> served as a vector for these bacterial pathogens, as well as potential alternative roles of <i>A. lumbricoides</i> in causing a polymicrobial bacterial abscess, are discussed. These cases suggest that specific treatment strategies including antihelminthic therapy or abscess resection may be successful in patients with cerebral lesions and concomitant intestinal <i>A. lumbricoides.</i></p>","PeriodicalId":73691,"journal":{"name":"Journal of contemporary neurology : CN","volume":"1997 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10227749/pdf/nihms-1899497.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9559765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}