Two Cases of Imported Gnathostomiasis in Spanish Women

• DOI: 10.1007/s10096-002-0785-2
• Publication Date: 2003-03-24T11:48:27Z
• Authors: S. Puente; T. Gárate; M. Grobusch; K. Janitschke; F. Bru; M. Rodríguez; J. González-Lahoz
• Keywords: Adult; 0301 basic medicine; Travel; Antinematodal Agents; Antibodies, Helminth; Spirurida Infections; Emigration and Immigration; Middle Aged; Albendazole; 3. Good health; Mebendazole; 03 medical and health sciences; Spain; Food Microbiology; Animals; Humans; Female; Gnathostoma; Mexico; Asia, Southeastern

Reported here are two new cases of imported cutaneous gnathostomiasis that occurred in two Spanish women. The first patient acquired the helminth infection while travelling in Southeast Asia and the second in Mexico. Although the highest prevalence of gnathostomiasis infection is in Southeast Asia, the disease is now an emerging public health problem in some countries of Latin America. The cases reported here demonstrate the increasing frequency with which human gnathostomiasis is being diagnosed in nonendemic countries as a result of more extensive international travel and migration.