Iatrogenic Trichuris suis infection in a patient with Crohn disease.
We report a case of biopsy-proven iatrogenic infection by the pig whipworm Trichuris suis in a patient with Crohn disease. The deliberate therapeutic ingestion of T suis ova has been adopted as an experimental approach to the treatment of Crohn disease in an effort to promote a switch from the T helper subtype 1 to T helper subtype 2 inflammatory phenotype in vivo. This report examines the morphology of the immature and adult T suis, the effects of this intervention on the immunophenotype of the bowel mucosa, and it also raises the possibility of persistent active infection in man.
Kradin
Richard L
RL
Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. rkradin@partners.org
Badizadegan
Kamran
K
Auluck
Pavan
P
Korzenik
Joshua
J
Lauwers
Gregory Y
GY