Categorized: Gastroenterology

Incidental Strongyloidiasis in Colonic Biopsy Specimens

M.H. Saboorian, Guy M. Lindberg, Robert M. Genta, Inform Diagnostics Research Institute, Irving, TX

Strongyloides stercoralis, a worldwide parasitic nematode, can persist indefinitely within a host, usually asymptomatic, through a mechanism known as autoinfection. Immunosuppression may cause rapid increases in the numbers of re-infecting larvae (hyperinfection), which can disseminate throughout the body, usually with a fatal outcome. The diagnosis is made by finding larvae in the stools, but in some patients larvae can be found incidentally in colonic biopsy specimens. The purpose of this study was to review all cases of strongyloidiasis detected in colonic biopsies in patients who had not been suspected of harboring a parasite.

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