Chronic diarrhea and abdominal pain: Pin the pinworm

Enterobius vermicularis is the most common helminthic infection in the US. It is usually considered an innocuous parasite that at the most causes perianal itching. We report a case of an 84‐year‐old female patient from an assisted living facility who presented with symptoms of colitis for 2 months....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of hospital medicine 2009-02, Vol.4 (2), p.137-139
Main Authors: Rajamanickam, Anitha, Usmani, Ali, Suri, Sanjeev, Dimov, Vesselin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
abdominal pain
Abdominal Pain - diagnosis
Abdominal Pain - parasitology
Aged, 80 and over
Albendazole - administration & dosage
Albendazole - therapeutic use
Animals
Anthelmintics - administration & dosage
Anthelmintics - therapeutic use
colitis
Colitis - diagnosis
Colitis - drug therapy
Colitis - parasitology
Diagnosis, Differential
diarrhea
Diarrhea - diagnosis
Diarrhea - drug therapy
Diarrhea - parasitology
Enterobiasis - diagnosis
Enterobiasis - drug therapy
Enterobius - drug effects
Enterobius - isolation & purification
Enterobius vermicularis
Female
Humans
pinworm
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Summary:Enterobius vermicularis is the most common helminthic infection in the US. It is usually considered an innocuous parasite that at the most causes perianal itching. We report a case of an 84‐year‐old female patient from an assisted living facility who presented with symptoms of colitis for 2 months. On detailed history and exam, she was found to have E. vermicularis infection. All her symptoms resolved dramatically within 2 days after a single dose of albendazole. We want to emphasize the importance of including parasitic infections such as E. vermicularis in the differential diagnoses of patients presenting with symptoms of colitis. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2009;4:137–139. © 2009 Society of Hospital Medicine.
ISSN:1553-5592
1553-5606
DOI:10.1002/jhm.322