Parasitic meningitis spreads through food

Recently, the Unified Hospital has treated a case of meningitis caused by Gnathostoma spinigerum. This is a parasitic infection through food. Female patient Ta Kim N., 66 years old, hometown of ward 8 - TP. Ca Mau hospitalized due to fatigue and headache.

In the past, the patient was tired for a week before going to hospital. The patient could not eat, no fever, no vomiting, normal urination. Previously, the patient had gone to a private clinic, but not reduced. Increased fatigue, muscle weakness, always want to lie, sometimes sleep.

Two days before being admitted to the hospital, the patient was sometimes confused, and said, with a headache.

Gnathostoma spinigerum parasites can cause meningitis. (Artwork: soton.ac.uk)

During hospitalization, doctors found eosinophilia increased. In two times of cerebrospinal fluid, doctors found the Gnathostoma spinigerum parasite. The patient did not receive active medical treatment for 21 days. After one month of treatment, the patient was completely healthy and had no sequelae of meningitis.

According to the doctors of Internal Medicine synthesizing B3, Gnathostoma parasites infect people through food. People infected by eating unprocessed seafood. In the human body, larvae move from one place to another, from the skin to the organs.

If the larvae move into the brain or meninges, the disease becomes serious and can lead to death.

Parasitic infections in the central nervous system are not rare. In only 2 years (1999 - 2000), the Department of Neurology and Diseases of Cho Ray discovered 51 cases of parasitic diseases.

Patients with diverse clinical manifestations: convulsions, meningeal syndrome, increased intracranial pressure, paralysis of limbs, cranial nerve paralysis, perceptual and mental disorders .

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