Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0000727 (acute abdomen)
 3,084 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Strongyloides stercoralis is an intestinal nematode that is widely distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics. Immigration patterns, travel, and poor hygiene can place patients in the United States at an increased risk. Endemic regions in the southeastern United States have been identified. The infected host may be asymptomatic or present with a wide variety of complaints. Abdominal findings may mimic an acute abdomen or intestinal obstruction, which may lead to an avoidable laparotomy. A massive infection of the gastrointestinal tract and lungs is termed hyperinfection syndrome. Disseminated strongyloides occurs when other organs are involved. This can be life-threatening. A prominent predisposing factor to severe infection is a patient's status as an immunocomprised host. Asymptomatic infected hosts can become symptomatic after the initiation of corticosteroid therapy or other immunosuppressive medications. Strongyloidiasis should be considered in patients with transient pulmonary infiltrates and gastrointestinal complaints. A recent travel history, poor hygiene, cutaneous manifestations, or blood eosinophilia may point to the diagnosis. Negative stool cultures do not rule out the diagnosis, and esphogogastroduodonoscopy with aspiration cultures and mucosal biopsy greatly increase the diagnostic yield. A high index of suspicion is necessary to establish the diagnosis, and unnecessary laparotomies can be avoided.
 ...
PMID:Intestinal ileus secondary to Strongyloides stercoralis infection: case report and review of the literature. 789 10

Strongyloides stercoralis (SS) is an intestinal nematode that is mainly endemic in tropical and subtropical regions and sporadic in temperate zones. SS infection frequently occurs in people who have hematologic malignancies, HIV infection and in individuals undergoing immunosuppressive therapy. In this study, we report a 12- year-old immunocompetent boy who was admitted to our hospital with acute abdomen. Laboratory evaluation showed strongyloidiasis, amebiasis and giardiasis. Clinical and laboratory findings immediately improved with albendazole therapy. Therefore, when diarrhea with signs of acute abdomen is observed, stool examinations should be done for enteroparasitosis. This approach will prevent misdiagnosis as acute abdomen. Complete clinical improvement is possible by medical therapy without surgical intervention.
 ...
PMID:Strongyloidiasis associated with amebiasis and giardiaisis in an immunocompetent boy presented with acute abdomen. 1469 65

Strongyloides stercoralis is a helminth, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical countries. Its infestation in humans usually does not produce symptoms. However, in some patients, severe and life-threatening forms of this infection can occur, especially in immunocompromised individuals. Severe parasitic infection is triggered by any imbalance in the host's immunity favouring the auto-infective cycle. This results in an increase in the intraluminal parasitic burden. In addition, tissue infestation is also very common. Clinical presentation is variable, and it is very difficult to diagnose clinically. Diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion. In some cases, the diagnosis is established only on histopathological examination of the excised tissue by the pathologist. Here, the authors report a case of an elderly male diabetic patient, who presented to the emergency department with the features of acute abdomen. On exploratory laparotomy, he was found to have the features suggestive of gangrene of small bowel. Resection of the gangrenous bowel was done, and end-to-end anastomosis was done as the rest of the bowel appeared to be normal. However, the patient died of multi-organ failure and septicaemia on the second postoperative day. The resected intestine showed tissue infestation of Strongyloides stercoralis on histopathological examination. In this review article, the authors summarize a case of hyper infection syndrome of strongyloidiasis and discuss the various aspects of Strongyloides stercoralis infection with emphasis on life cycle of the parasite and different clinical features of the disease.
 ...
PMID:Strongyloides stercoralis Hyper infection Syndrome. 3241 45