pmc logo imageJournal ListSearchpmc logo image
Logo of cmrClin Microbiol Rev SubscriptionsClin Microbiol Rev Web Site
Clin Microbiol Rev. 1993 January; 6(1): 34–56.
PMCID: PMC358265
Unusual infections in humans.
R C Neafie and A M Marty
Parasitic Disease Pathology Branch, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C. 20306-6000.
Abstract
Nine cases of unusual infections in humans are presented. In each case, we present the clinical history, histopathologic changes (if indicated), morphologic features of the causative organism, diagnosis, discussion, differential diagnosis, therapy, and current literature. All of the cases are illustrated with pertinent photographs. The nine cases are as follows: (i) acanthocephaliasis, the first acquired human infection by Moniliformis moniliformis in the United States; (ii) dipylidiasis, an uncommon infection caused by the dog tapeworm, Dipylidium caninum; (iii) granulomatous amebic encephalitis, caused by the recently identified leptomyxid group of amebae; (iv) schistosomiasis, a dual infection of the urinary bladder with the rare presentation of both adult worms and eggs of Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma mansoni in tissue sections; (v) syphilitic gastritis, an uncommon presentation of Treponema pallidum infection, in a patient with an additional incidental infection by Helicobacter pylori; (vi) microsporidiosis, the only infection caused by a Pleistophora sp. in humans; (vii) sporotrichosis, a rare disseminated infection caused by Sporothrix schenckii with numerous yeast cells in the scrotum; (viii) angiostrongyliasis, the first and only infection caused by Angiostrongylus costaricensis acquired in either Puerto Rico or the United States; and (ix) botryomycosis of the skin and subcutaneous tissue, caused by gram-positive cocci with an unusually large number of granules.
Full text
Full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version. Get a printable copy (PDF file) of the complete article (11M), or click on a page image below to browse page by page. Links to PubMed are also available for Selected References.
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
  • Auran, JD; Starr, MB; Jakobiec, FA. Acanthamoeba keratitis. A review of the literature. Cornea. 1987;6(1):2–26. [PubMed]
  • Baird, JK; Neafie, RC; Lanoie, L; Connor, DH. Abdominal angiostrongylosis in an African man: case study. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1987 Sep;37(2):353–356. [PubMed]
  • Brunken, RC; Lichon-Chao, N; van der Broek, H. Immunologic abnormalities in botryomycosis. A case report with review of the literature. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1983 Sep;9(3):428–434. [PubMed]
  • Buck, GE. Campylobacter pylori and gastroduodenal disease. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1990 Jan;3(1):1–12. [PubMed]
  • Butz, WC; Watts, JC; Rosales-Wuintana, S; Hicklin, MD. Erosive gastritis as a manifestation of secondary syphilis. Am J Clin Pathol. 1975 Jun;63(6):895–900. [PubMed]
  • Chung, KY; Lee, MG; Chon, CY; Lee, JB. Syphilitic gastritis: demonstration of Treponema pallidum with the use of fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption complement and immunoperoxidase stains. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1989 Aug;21(2 Pt 1):183–185. [PubMed]
  • COOLEY, RN; CHILDERS, JH. Acquired syphilis of the stomach. Report of two cases. Gastroenterology. 1960 Aug;39:201–207. [PubMed]
  • Counselman, K; Field, C; Lea, G; Nickol, B; Neafie, R. Moniliformis moniliformis from a child in Florida. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1989 Jul;41(1):88–90. [PubMed]
  • Dingley, D; Beaver, PC. Macracanthorhynchus ingens from a child in Texas. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1985 Sep;34(5):918–920. [PubMed]
  • Dooley, CP; Cohen, H; Fitzgibbons, PL; Bauer, M; Appleman, MD; Perez-Perez, GI; Blaser, MJ. Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and histologic gastritis in asymptomatic persons. N Engl J Med. 1989 Dec 7;321(23):1562–1566. [PubMed]
  • Dye, KR; Marshall, BJ; Frierson, HF, Jr; Guerrant, RL; McCallum, RW. Ultrastructure of another spiral organism associated with human gastritis. Dig Dis Sci. 1989 Nov;34(11):1787–1791. [PubMed]
  • England, DM; Hochholzer, L. Sporothrix infection of the lung without cutaneous disease. Primary pulmonary sporotrichosis. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1987 Mar;111(3):298–300. [PubMed]
  • Essa, MH; Mangoud, AM; Aly, MA; el-Adl, M; Morsy, TA. Schistosomiasis associated bladder carcinoma expression of cytokeratin. J Egypt Soc Parasitol. 1990 Jun;20(1):161–167. [PubMed]
  • Ferrante, A. Amphotericin B doses for primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. Lancet. 1986 Jul 5;2(8497):35–36. [PubMed]
  • Fischer, R; Sämisch, W; Schwenke, E. "Gastrospirillum hominis": another four cases. Lancet. 1990 Jan 6;335(8680):59–59. [PubMed]
  • Georgi, JR. Tapeworms. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract. 1987 Nov;17(6):1285–1305. [PubMed]
  • Hacker, P. Botryomycosis. Int J Dermatol. 1983 Oct;22(8):455–458. [PubMed]
  • Ishii, AI; Terada, M; Fujiu, Y; Sano, M. In vivo efficacy of levamisole against larval stages of Angiostrongylus cantonensis and A. costaricensis. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 1989 Mar;20(1):109–117. [PubMed]
  • Jones, WE. Niclosamide as a treatment for Hymenolepis diminuta and Dipylidium caninum infection in man. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1979 Mar;28(2):300–302. [PubMed]
  • Ledford, DK; Overman, MD; Gonzalvo, A; Cali, A; Mester, SW; Lockey, RF. Microsporidiosis myositis in a patient with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Ann Intern Med. 1985 May;102(5):628–630. [PubMed]
  • Loría-Cortés, R; Lobo-Sanahuja, JF. Clinical abdominal angiostrongylosis. A study of 116 children with intestinal eosinophilic granuloma caused by Angiostrongylus costaricensis. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1980 Jul;29(4):538–544. [PubMed]
  • Ma, P; Willaert, E; Juechter, KB; Stevens, AR. A case of keratitis due to Acanthamoeba in New York, New York, and features of 10 cases. J Infect Dis. 1981 May;143(5):662–667. [PubMed]
  • Macher, AM; Neafie, R; Angritt, P; Tuur, SM. Microsporidial myositis and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS): a four-year follow-up. Ann Intern Med. 1988 Aug 15;109(4):343. [PubMed]
  • Macher, AM; Neafie, R; Angritt, P; Tuur, SM; Nelson, RP; Cali, A. AIDS. Case for diagnosis series, 1988. Mil Med. 1988 Jul;153(7):M41–M48. [PubMed]
  • Mackinnon, JE; Conti-Díaz, IA; Gezuele, E; Galiana, J; Hormaeche, C; Civila, E. Experimental botryomycosis produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J Med Microbiol. 1969 Aug;2(3):369–372. [PubMed]
  • Margileth, AM; Strano, AJ; Chandra, R; Neafie, R; Blum, M; McCully, RM. Disseminated nosematosis in an immunologically compromised infant. Arch Pathol. 1973 Mar;95(3):145–150. [PubMed]
  • Martinez, AJ. Infection of the central nervous system due to Acanthamoeba. Rev Infect Dis. 1991 13 Suppl 5:S399–S402.Mar–Apr; [PubMed]
  • McNulty, CA; Dent, JC; Curry, A; Uff, JS; Ford, GA; Gear, MW; Wilkinson, SP. New spiral bacterium in gastric mucosa. J Clin Pathol. 1989 Jun;42(6):585–591. [PubMed]
  • Morera, P. Life history and redescription of Angiostrongylus costaricensis Morera and Céspedes, 1971. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1973 Sep;22(5):613–621. [PubMed]
  • Orenstein, JM; Zierdt, W; Zierdt, C; Kotler, DP. Identification of spores of Enterocytozoon bieneusi in stool and duodenal fluid from AIDS patients. Lancet. 1990 Nov 3;336(8723):1127–1128. [PubMed]
  • Patterson, JW; Kitces, EN; Neafie, RC. Cutaneous botryomycosis in a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1987 Jan;16(1 Pt 2):238–242. [PubMed]
  • Powell, KE; Taylor, A; Phillips, BJ; Blakey, DL; Campbell, GD; Kaufman, L; Kaplan, W. Cutaneous sporotrichosis in forestry workers. Epidemic due to contaminated Sphagnum moss. JAMA. 1978 Jul 21;240(3):232–235. [PubMed]
  • Rank, EL; Goldenberg, SA; Hasson, J; Cartun, RW; Grey, N. Treponema pallidum and Helicobacter pylori recovered in a case of chronic active gastritis. Am J Clin Pathol. 1992 Jan;97(1):116–120. [PubMed]
  • Raziuddin, S; Shetty, S; Ibrahim, A. T-cell abnormality and defective interleukin-2 production in patients with carcinoma of the urinary bladder with schistosomiasis. J Clin Immunol. 1991 Mar;11(2):103–113. [PubMed]
  • Sachar, DB; Klein, RS; Swerdlow, F; Bottone, E; Khilnani, MT; Waye, JD; Wisniewski, M. Erosive syphilitic gastritis: dark-field and immunofluorescent diagnosis from biopsy specimen. Ann Intern Med. 1974 Apr;80(4):512–515. [PubMed]
  • Schmidt, GD. Acanthocephalan infections of man, with two new records. J Parasitol. 1971 Jun;57(3):582–584. [PubMed]
  • Schwartz, DA; Finkelstein, SD. Propionibacterium acnes cerebral botryomycosis. The role of plastic embedding in the diagnosis of grain-producing infections. Am J Clin Pathol. 1986 Nov;86(5):682–685. [PubMed]
  • Shadduck, JA; Greeley, E. Microsporidia and human infections. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1989 Apr;2(2):158–165. [PubMed]
  • Shekhar, KC. Schistosomiasis drug therapy and treatment considerations. Drugs. 1991 Sep;42(3):379–405. [PubMed]
  • Shy, SW; Lai, YS; Lee, WH; Tseng, HH. Ulceronodular gastritis in secondary syphilis. J Infect. 1991 May;22(3):277–279. [PubMed]
  • Small, IA; Kobernick, S. Botryomycosis of the tongue. Report of a case. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1967 Oct;24(4):503–509. [PubMed]
  • Tricker, AR; Mostafa, MH; Spiegelhalder, B; Preussmann, R. Urinary nitrate, nitrite and N-nitroso compounds in bladder cancer patients with schistosomiasis (bilharzia). IARC Sci Publ. 1991;(105):178–181. [PubMed]
  • Ubelaker, JE; Hall, NM. First report of Angiostrongylus costaricensis Morera and Céspedes 1971 in the United States. J Parasitol. 1979 Apr;65(2):307. [PubMed]
  • Visvesvara, GS. Classification of Acanthamoeba. Rev Infect Dis. 1991 13 Suppl 5:S369–S372.Mar–Apr; [PubMed]
  • Visvesvara, GS; Martinez, AJ; Schuster, FL; Leitch, GJ; Wallace, SV; Sawyer, TK; Anderson, M. Leptomyxid ameba, a new agent of amebic meningoencephalitis in humans and animals. J Clin Microbiol. 1990 Dec;28(12):2750–2756. [PubMed]
  • Visvesvara, GS; Stehr-Green, JK. Epidemiology of free-living ameba infections. J Protozool. 1990 37(4):25S–33S.Jul–Aug; [PubMed]
  • Washburn, RG; Bryan, CS; DiSalvo, AF; Macher, AM; Gallin, JI. Visceral botryomycosis caused by Neisseria mucosa in a patient with chronic granulomatous disease. J Infect Dis. 1985 Mar;151(3):563–564. [PubMed]
  • Wijesundera, MD. The use of praziquantel in human infection with Dipylidium. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1989 83(3):383.May–Jun; [PubMed]
  • WINSLOW, DJ. Botryomycosis. Am J Pathol. 1959 35(1):153–167.Jan–Feb; [PubMed]
  • WINSLOW, DJ; CHAMBLIN, SA. Disseminated visceral botryomycosis. Report of a fatal case probably caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Am J Clin Pathol. 1960 Jan;33:43–47. [PubMed]
  • Wolfe, MS. Schistosoma intercalatum infection in an American family. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1974 Jan;23(1):45–50. [PubMed]
  • Wyatt, JI; Rathbone, BJ; Dixon, MF; Heatley, RV. Campylobacter pyloridis and acid induced gastric metaplasia in the pathogenesis of duodenitis. J Clin Pathol. 1987 Aug;40(8):841–848. [PubMed]