Eosinophilic meningitis due to Angiostrongylus cantonensis in a Belgian traveller.
Eosinophilic meningitis is a rare clinical entity. The most frequent cause in travellers to the tropics is infection with the rat lungworm Angiostrongylus cantonensis. In this report, we describe a case of eosinophilic meningitis due to infection with this nematode in a traveller who presented with slight headache, diarrhoea, general malaise and thoracic radicular pain after a trip through Latin America and the Fiji Islands. She responded less than optimally to repeated steroid and albendazole treatments, but finally recovered completely.
Ali
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Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine, Kronenburgstraat 43/3, B-2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
Van den Enden
Erwin
E
Van Gompel
Alfons
A
Van Esbroeck
Marjan
M
D000328:Adult; D015766:Albendazole / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017185:Angiostrongylus cantonensis / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D000818:Animals; D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001530:Belgium; D004804:Eosinophils; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008581:Meningitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D017206:Strongylida Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D014195:Travel; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000871:Anthelmintics; D015766:Albendazole