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It’s Alive.skin

Writer's pictureAdasha Knight

Dental worms are real!

Gongylonema pulchrum infection in the human oral cavity: A case report and literature review


Gongylonema infection is a zoonotic disease occurring throughout the world and is mainly caused by consumption of contaminated water and raw food. Adult Gongylonema worms can exist as parasites in the human body for up to 10 years and cause symptoms of local irritation in the oral cavity, esophagus, and pharynx. Herein, we report a rare case in which live Gongylonema pulchrumwas detected and extracted from the oral cavity of a woman. The pathogen was confirmed as G. pulchrum on the basis of microscopic examination and morphologic analysis. The patient's symptoms resolved immediately after surgical removal of the parasite, and the patient has been advised not to drink water that has not been boiled and to avoid consuming unwashed raw vegetables.


History review

A 30-year-old woman presented to our clinic chiefly for an itchy sensation that was sometimes accompanied by a feeling that a worm was crawling over the oral mucosa of her upper and lower lip, gingiva, and buccal mucosa. The patient had been experiencing these symptoms for 2 years and reported that they usually disappeared spontaneously within a few hours without any associated systemic symptoms. On first experiencing the symptoms, the patient had been seen by medical professionals from several

Discussion and Literature Review

G. pulchrum Molin, 1857, is a nematode parasite of the superfamily Spiruriodea within the order Spirurida, which also includes 10 parasitic species identified in birds and approximately 25 species identified in several kinds of domestic and wild mammals worldwide.15 Usually, humans are accidental spiruroid hosts. To date, nematodes of 7 spiruroid genera have been reported to infect humans; these include Gnathostoma, Thelazia, Gongylonema, Physaloptera, Spirocerca, and Rictularia.16 G. pulchrum.




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