Abstract
In May, 2009, a 4-year-old girl from thetown of Oriximina´, Para´ state, Brazil,experienced 15 days of nocturnal abdom-inal pain, weight loss, abdominal disten-sion, and the presence of ‘‘white worms’’in the stool, but no diarrhea. At the localhospital, even though a conclusive diag-nosis was not available, albendazole wasprescribed for 5 days. Following thistreatment, worms were still found in thepatient’s faeces, so the child was taken tothe Tropical Medicine Nucleus of theFederal University of Para´ (UFPA), wherecestode infection was confirmed. Thisdiagnosis was followed by a single oraldose of praziquantel (10 mg/kg).During treatment, a further seven smallfragments and one large portion of theworm’s strobilus were expelled by thepatient. The largest fragments were fixedin 10% formalin and others stored insaline solution, which were sent to the CellBiology and Helmintology Laboratory atthe UFPA for taxonomic analysis.The smaller fragments were still movingwhen they arrived at the laboratory(Figure 1A), and were exuding a whitesubstance, which was analyzed under amiscroscope. A large number of sphericaleggs—0.042–0.047
Highlights
During treatment, a further seven small fragments and one large portion of the worm’s strobilus were expelled by the patient
One of the fragments of the strobilus stored in saline solution was used for the molecular analysis of the 18S fragment of the ribosomal DNA, based on the protocol previously described [1]
The phylogenetic analysis was based on Kimura’s 2-parameter model for the neighbor-joining method, with 1,000 bootstrap replicates, which revealed that the sample collected in the present study was 84% similar to the sequence of Bertiella studeri (Figure 2)
Summary
In May, 2009, a 4-year-old girl from the town of Oriximina, Parastate, Brazil, experienced 15 days of nocturnal abdominal pain, weight loss, abdominal distension, and the presence of ‘‘white worms’’ in the stool, but no diarrhea. Even though a conclusive diagnosis was not available, albendazole was prescribed for 5 days Following this treatment, worms were still found in the patient’s faeces, so the child was taken to the Tropical Medicine Nucleus of the Federal University of Para (UFPA), where cestode infection was confirmed. The largest fragments were fixed in 10% formalin and others stored in saline solution, which were sent to the Cell Biology and Helmintology Laboratory at the UFPA for taxonomic analysis. The cirrus sac—0.53–0.74 mm (0.61 mm; n = 7)60.09– 0.16 mm (0.11 mm; n = 7)—of the male reproductive system was observed, and it was not possible to define the number of testicles, which further hampered the identification of the genus (Figure 1C and 1D). Consent for Publication The patient’s mother gave consent to have her case details published
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
