title: Case report: Loiasis with peripheral nerve involvement and spleen lesions.
abstract: Loiasis, which is caused by the filarial nematode Loa loa, affects millions of persons living in the rainforest areas and savannah regions of central Africa. Typical manifestations are calabar swellings and the eyeworm. We report a case of loiasis with unusual clinical complications: a peripheral neuropathy and focal hypo-echogenic lesions of the spleen, which disappeared after treatment with albendazole and ivermectin. The literature reports that L. loa infection can be associated with various manifestations, some of them being serious. More information is needed to better characterize the protean manifestations of the disease in loiasis-endemic areas to evaluate the true incidence of loiasis.
authors.affiliation: Centro per le Malattie Tropicali, Ospedale Sacro Cuore-Don Calabria, Negrar, Verona, Italy. federico.gobbi@sacrocuore.it
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gobbi
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boussinesq
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mascarello
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Angheben
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gobbo
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rossanese
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corachán
authors.forename: Zeno
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bisoffi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008118:Loiasis / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D017933:Peripheral Nervous System / Q000473:pathology*; D013154:Spleen / Q000473:pathology*