ABSTRACT
Patients with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are at high risk for gastrointestinal infections causing diarrhea, particularly when those infections are parasitic in nature. This propensity is more pronounced in AIDS, where opportunistic parasitic infections may cause severe diarrhea, marked absorptive dysfunction, and significant risk of mortality. There are scant data regarding parasitic infections among HIV patients in the developed world; most studies and research come from povertystricken areas of South Africa, India, Iran, and the South Pacific. Although multiple infections with the same or different parasites have been reported, simultaneous infections are rare. We present the case of a 35-year-old man who developed a co-infection with Giardia, Cryptosporidium, and Strongyloides, simultaneously, the diagnosis being made after the judicious evaluation of a stool sample. Given the associated morbidity, prompt diagnosis and treatment are needed to avoid further complications in patients with HIV. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of triple parasitic infection in a patient with HIV.
Subject(s)
Cryptosporidiosis/parasitology , Giardiasis/parasitology , Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic/parasitology , Strongyloidiasis/parasitology , AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections/diagnosis , AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections/etiology , AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections/parasitology , Adult , Animals , Coinfection , Cryptosporidiosis/diagnosis , Cryptosporidiosis/etiology , Cryptosporidium/isolation & purification , Diarrhea/parasitology , Giardia/isolation & purification , Giardiasis/diagnosis , Giardiasis/etiology , HIV Infections/complications , Humans , Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic/diagnosis , Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic/etiology , Male , Strongyloides/isolation & purification , Strongyloidiasis/diagnosis , Strongyloidiasis/etiologyABSTRACT
The diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is often a challenge for most physicians given its extremely low incidence and different clinico-pathological presentations. We report the case of a 56-year old patient native to Puerto Rico suspected of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCD). The symptoms at onset were notorious for bilateral cortical blindness followed by rapidly progressive cognitive decline, visual deficit, increased levels of CSF 14-3-3 and tau along with positive brain MRI and EEG, are highly indicative of CJD. The definite diagnosis was confirmed by the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center (NPDPSC), in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Lack of genetic mutations in the prion protein (PrP) gene, widespread histopathological changes and the accumulation of scrapie PrP (PrPSc) in the brain confirmed the diagnosis of sCJD. The patient, admitted to our institution in 2011, represents the first detailed report of sCJD in a native Puerto Rican patient living in Puerto Rico.
