Subject(s)
Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Genome-Wide Association Study , Histoplasmosis/complications , Histoplasmosis/genetics , Mediastinitis/etiology , Mediastinitis/genetics , Sclerosis/etiology , Sclerosis/genetics , Adult , Aged , Female , Histoplasmosis/epidemiology , Humans , Male , Mediastinitis/epidemiology , Mediastinitis/parasitology , Middle Aged , Reproducibility of Results , Sclerosis/epidemiology , Sclerosis/parasitology , United States/epidemiology , Young AdultABSTRACT
Wuchereria bancrofti is a mosquito-borne filarial nematode that commonly invades lymphatic vessels. Common clinical manifestations include elephantiasis, orchitis, epididymitis, and chyluria. This report concerns an Egyptian man who developed superior vena cava syndrome secondary to a mediastinal mass that was found to contain a filarial nematode consistent with W. bancrofti. This is the first case, to our knowledge, of this parasite causing fibrosing mediastinitis.
Subject(s)
Filariasis/complications , Mediastinitis/parasitology , Superior Vena Cava Syndrome/etiology , Wuchereria bancrofti , Aged , Animals , Diethylcarbamazine/therapeutic use , Humans , Male , Mediastinitis/complications , Mediastinitis/drug therapyABSTRACT
Migrating first-instar larvae of Hypoderma lineatum are a frequent cause of focal inflammatory lesions in connective tissues of the mediastinum, parietal and visceral pleura, peritoneum, lungs, diaphragm, and other loci. The lesions are characterized grossly by foci of yellowish or greenish gelatinous edema and microscopically by infiltration of the edematous tissue by a dense array of eosinophils. Lesions were recognized during a period of several weeks in late spring; the timing was attributable to events in the life cycle of the fly. The larvae, which were small (approximately 1 x 4.5 mm), transparent, and unobtrusive, were recovered from lesions in 12 of 20 cattle in which careful parasitologic examination was made.
