Mammomanogamus (Syngamus) laryngeus infection: a new Brazilian human case

BRIEF REPORT

Mammomanogamus (Syngamus) laryngeus infection: a new Brazilian human case

Ana Lúcia Freitas; Geraldo De Carli; Maria Helena Blankenhein

Laboratório de Parasitologia, Faculdade de Farmácia, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

^{Correspondence to}

The nematode Mammomanogamus (Syngamus) laryngeus is commonly found in the upper respiratory tract of ruminants including domestic cattle, water buffalo, and goats. Humans can be accidentally infected with this parasite. The worms live attached in the mucosa of laryngotracheal region, and usually the symptoms express tracheolaryngeal irritation, with stubborn cough without fever. In some patients there is hemoptysis. These worms remain in permanent copula so that the pair appears as a "Y". The life cycle of M. (S.) laryngeus has not been elucidated.

These parasites were discovered by KING in January, 1913 (LEIPER, 1913) ⁸ in the sputum of an Irish woman in Santa Lucia, Antilles. Infection of man by this nematode is rare, but the worms have been described in Australia, Brazil, British Guiana, Canada, Martinique, Philippines, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia (West Indies) and Trinidad, and the United States of America. Up to the present, 86 cases of human infection with M. (S.) laryngeus have been reported (St. JOHN et al ²¹; JUNG et al. ⁶; DUFAT et al. ⁴; WEINSTEIN & MOLAVI ²⁴; BIRREL et al. ²; MORNEX et al. ¹⁷; TIMMONS et al. ²²; GARDINER & SCHANTZ ⁵; LEERS et al.⁷; SANTOS et al. ¹⁹ and SEVERO et al.²⁰).

In the Brazilian reports there are 21 cases of human parasitism by M. (S.) laryngeus. All of these are, apparently, accidental infections with the bovine species.

These worms were first described from Brazilian patients in the early 1920s by TRAVASSOS (1921) ²³ in Salvador, Bahia. Other cases have been reported by MACHADO (1938) ¹³; MELLO & MELLO (1938) ¹⁴; LENT & PENNA (1939) ¹⁰; MORAES (1947) ¹⁶; PASSOS & BARBOSA (1948) ¹⁸; LIMA & BARBOSA (1951) ⁹; AMARAL, et al. (1954) ¹; MACHADO et al. (1962) ¹²; LONDERO & LAUDA, 1967 ¹¹; BUSETTI et al. (1983) ³; MELO et al. (1984) ¹⁵; SANTOS et al. (1986) ¹⁹, SEVERO et al. (1988) ²⁰, and finally ZUNINO et al. (1989) ²⁵ described six additional cases.

The aim of this communication is to describe a new Brazilian case of syngamosis in a human being. The patient, a 33-year-old white man, veterinarian, from Santa Maria, RS, Brazil, eliminated the worms in July 1992 by spontaneous expectoration after violent attacks of coughing.

The specimens received for morphologic diagnostic reached our laboratory poorly preserved and damaged. To secure a proper preparation, the mucus and adherent debris were carefully removed from the worms by gently shaking in physiological saline. The parasites were fixed in alcohol-formalin-acetic acid (AFA) for 24 h and were stored in alcohol-glycerin.

The female and the male measured 9.0mm and 3.2mm respectively. The anterior extremity of the female showed a large buccal capsule with eight triangular teeth at base (Fig. 1). The male was attached to the female by the copulatory bursa, in the typical "Y" - shaped appearance (Fig. 2). Figure 3 shows the typical posterior extremity of the female, while Fig. 4 shows the anterior extremity of the male, and Fig. 5 shows the eggs. The stool and sputum examination was not performed.

Recebido para publicação em 18/07/1994.

Aceito para publicação em 12/09/1994.

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Correspondence to:

Prof. Geraldo A. De Carli

Rua Cel. Lucas de Oliveira 597/302

90440-011, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  22 Feb 2007
• Date of issue
  Apr 1995

History

• Accepted
  12 Sept 1994
• Received
  18 July 1994