title: Eosinophilic meningitis caused by Angiostrongylus cantonensis associated with eating raw snails: correlation of brain magnetic resonance imaging scans with clinical findings.
abstract: Angiostrongylus cantonensis is the most common cause of eosinophilic meningitis worldwide. Human infection occurs after ingestion of the worms in raw snails or fish that serve as intermediate hosts. Two outbreaks of central nervous system infection with A. cantonensis occurred in Kaoshiung, Taiwan, during 1998 and 1999 among Thai laborers who ate raw snails. A detailed clinical studies of 17 of these patients was conducted, including study of 13 patients who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the brain. The MRI scans revealed high signal intensities over the globus pallidus and cerebral peduncle on T1-weighted imaging, leptomeningeal enhancement, ventriculomegaly, and punctate areas of abnormal enhancement within the cerebral and cerebellar hemisphere on gadolinium-enhancing T1 imaging, and a hyperintense signal on T2-weighted images. There was a significant correlation between severity of headache, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis, and CSF and blood eosinophilia with MRI signal intensity in T1-weighted imaging (P < 0.05). Eosinophilic meningitis produced by A. cantonensis needs to added to the list of causes of hyperintense basal ganglia lesions found on T1-weighted MRI scans in tropical countries.
authors.affiliation: Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hung-Chin
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Yung-Ching
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Calvin M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Kunin
authors.forename: Ping-Hong
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Susan Shin-Jung
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yao-Shen
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shue-Ren
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Wann
authors.forename: Wei-Ru
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Chun-Kai
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Luo-Ping
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Ger
authors.forename: Hsi-Hsun
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Muh-Yong
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Yen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017185:Angiostrongylus cantonensis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000818:Animals; D004802:Eosinophilia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D005517:Foodborne Diseases; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008581:Meningitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D012908:Snails / Q000469:parasitology*; D017206:Strongylida Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology