Volume 17, Number 7—July 2011
CME ACTIVITY
Neurognathostomiasis, a Neglected Parasitosis of the Central Nervous System
Juri Katchanov, Kittisak Sawanyawisuth, Verajit Chotmongkol, and Yukifumi Nawa
Table 1
Clinical presentation of 248 patients with neurognathostomiasis*
| Syndrome | Probable entry portal entry | Clinical signs and symptoms | No. (%) cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radiculomyelitis/myelitis/ myeloencephalitis | Intervertebral foramina along the spinal nerves and vessels | Sharp radicular pain and a spinal syndrome (paraplegia, monoplegia, quadriplegia, bladder dysfunction, sensory disturbances), can progress to cerebral involvement (myeloencephalitis) | 140 (55) |
| Meningitis/ meningoencephalitis | Neural foramina of the skull base along the cranial nerves and vessels | Severe headache, stiffness of the neck, cranial nerve palsies, disturbance of consciousness, focal neurologic signs | 77 (30) |
| Intracerebral hemorrhage | Intervertebral or neural foramina | Headache, sudden-onset focal neurologic signs | 21 (8) |
| Subarachnoid hemorrhage |
Intervertebral or neural foramina |
Thunderclap headache, meningeal signs |
16 (7) |
| *Because the larvae migrate, patients can have sequential signs and symptoms; thus, the total number of clinical syndromes shown exceeds the number of reported patients. | |||
