Strongyloidiasis on the Thai-Cambodian border

Abstract

A series of children's deaths at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand prompted an investigation of children suffering from bloody diarrhoea and severe abdominal pain. Microscopical stool and blood examinations of 15 cases aged 1–7 years revealed hyperinfective strongyloidiasis as the cause of illness. Nine of 14 cases were infected with Strongyloides stercoralis, and 6 (42%) had concurrent infection with hookworm. Examination of 958 outpatients at the camp's daily clinic showed that mixed infections of S. stercoralis and hookworm were present in only 4·8% of the outpatients of the same age group.