Eosinophilic meningitis and an ocular worm in a patient from Kerala, south India

Abstract

Angiostrongylus cantonesis is the most common cause of eosinophilic meningitis worldwide.1 Rats serve as the definitive host of Angiostrongylus cantonesis , whereas humans become infected by ingesting third-stage larvae in raw intermediate hosts, such as snails, prawns, fish, frogs or monitor lizards.2 Infection has also rarely been acquired by the consumption of vegetables contaminated with infective larvae.3 4 Outside Southeast Asia and the Pacific Basin, where the infection is endemic, Angiostrongylus eosinophilic meningitis is seldom encountered.2 A 40-year-old woman, a resident of Kerala, southern India, presented with a 3-week history of low-grade fever, headache and vomiting. Other than neck rigidity, neurological and systemic examinations were normal. The blood counts …