Trichinosis Imitating an Inflammatory Systematic Disease

Trichinellosis (trichinosis) is a parasitic infection caused by nematodes of the genus Trichinella. Pigs are the most common source of human infection. We describe a case of a 47-year-old woman presented with a wide range of intermittent symptoms including prolonged fever, dry cough, diarrhea, rash, myalgias and arthralgias. The patient was attended by physicians with various medical specialties such as dermatologists, rheumatologists and allergiologists, but they did not establish a certain diagnosis because of the gradual onset of symptoms, raising the suspicion of a systematic disease. After extensive work up, the diagnosis of trichinosis was established with femoral muscle biopsy compatible with inflammatory myopathy of parasitic etiology with trichinosis to be the predominant diagnosis. Despite the significant delay of diagnosis for almost three months, patient was treated successfully with no further complications. Trichinellosis is a food-borne treatable infection. Preventive measures include community education especially in zones where parasite prevalence is increased, improvement of farming and cooking techniques.

Swallowing and Aspiration Risk: A Critical Review of Non Instrumental Bedside Screening Tests

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The presence of dysphagia and aspiration in stroke patients is associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Early recognition and management of these two conditions via reliable, minimally invasive bedside procedures before complications arise remains challenging in everyday clinical practice. This study reviews the available bedside screening tools for detecting swallowing status and aspiration risk in acute stroke by qualitatively observing reference population study design, clinical flexibility, reliability and applicability to acute-care settings. METHODS: The primary search was conducted using the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases. The search was limited to papers on humans written in English and published from 1991 to 2016. Eligibility criteria included the consecutive enrollment of acute-stroke inpatients and the development of a protocol for screening aspiration risk during oral feeding in this population. RESULTS: Of the 652 sources identified, 75 articles were reviewed in full however, only 12 fulfilled the selection criteria. Notable deficiencies in most of the bedside screening protocols included poor methodological designs and inadequate predictive values for aspiration risk which render clinicians to be more conservative in making dietary recommendations. CONCLUSIONS: The literature is dense with screening methods for assessing the presence of dysphagia but with low predictive value for aspiration risk after acute stroke. A standard, practical, and cost-effective screening tool that can be applied at the bedside and interpreted by a wide range of hospital personnel remains to be developed. This need is highlighted in settings where neither trained personnel in evaluating dysphagia nor clinical instrumentation procedures are available.