Diagnostic Endoscopy of Intestinal Strongyloidiasis in an Immunocompetent Patient by Single Balloon Enteroscopy

Abstract

Strongyloides stercoralis is an intestinal nematode that is able to infect the host tissue and persist for many years through autoinfection, and it causes life-threatening hyperinfection in immunocompromised hosts. Diagnosis of strongyloidiasis is usually made by identifying the larvae in the stool or in duodenal biopsies. There are only two published cases reports of strongyloidiasis diagnosed by double balloon enteroscopy .We report one case of strongyloidiasis that was diagnosed by single balloon enteroscopy (SBE) biopsy. A 40 -year-old man who was hospitalized with complaints of watery diarrheas and weight loss. SBE showed the mucosa of the duodenum and jejunum diffusely abnormal marked by edema, friability and multiple whitish lesions surrounded by reddish mucosa. Examination of biopsy specimens revealed a lympho-eosinophilic infiltration of the lamina propria with the presence of Strongyloides stercoralis in numerous gland crypts.