Among immunocompromised individuals, hyper-infection with Strongyloides stercoralis may occur and lead to fatal strongyloidiasis. To clinicians and laboratory diagnosticians in non-endemic countries such as Kuwait, this severe infection poses a particular problem. The clinical histories and signs and symptoms of four Kuwaiti cases of S. stercoralis hyper-infection were reviewed. Each of the four was found not only to have lived in an area where S. stercoralis was endemic but also to have been treated with immunosuppressive steroids (for medical problems unrelated to the nematode infection). When they presented with undiagnosed hyper-infections their clinical features were confusing. Three of the cases, all with low eosinophil counts, died but the other, who was treated with thiabendazole, survived. In the light of these observations, healthy medical examinees who had recently moved from endemic zones were checked for asymptomatic S. stercoralis infection, both by stool examination and ELISA-based serology. Of 381 stool samples investigated over a 3-month period, 183 (48%) were found positive for helminths, 7% for S. stercoralis. Of 198 individuals from endemic zones who were screened after another medical examination, 71 (35.8%) were found positive for intestinal helminth parasites, including one (1.45%) infected with S. stercoralis. Although ELISA appear reliable in making a presumptive diagnosis of strongylodiasis, the results of such assays are not very specific and are best interpreted in conjunction with the patient's clinical status. The concurrent administration of anthelminthics to patients prescribed steroids who, because they live or have lived in an area where S. stercoralis is endemic, are at risk of infection with the nematode, should be considered.

We present the case of a 22-year-old who developed severe neck pain within two weeks after undergoing posterior fossa decompression for a symptomatic Chiari I malformation. A diagnosis of cerebellar ptosis was made after magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and he underwent a partial cranioplasty, following which his symptoms resolved. The pathology, diagnostic criteria, and management options are discussed.

We present a unique case of biopsy-proven necrotising sarcoidosis involving the central nervous system in a man in his 40s. The patient presented with a 2-week history of right-sided headache and diplopia. He had right trochlear and abducens nerve palsy, sensory blunting over V1 and V2 segment of right trigeminal sensory nerve and right sensory neural hearing loss. A contrast-enhanced MRI revealed an enhancing dural-based mass lesion in the petroclival area suggestive of probable meningioma. Surgical resection was attempted and intraoperative consultation with frozen section revealed granulomata. So, the lesion was biopsied and surgical intervention was terminated. A diagnosis of necrotising neurosarcoidosis was confirmed on histopathology. He was treated with steroids after excluding other causes of intracranial necrotising granulomas like tuberculosis and he clinically responded favourably. We report one of the very few case reports of histologically proven necrotising sarcoidosis involving the central nervous system mimicking petroclival meningioma.