Colon Ascaris Lumbricoides

On screening colonoscopy, this abnormality was encountered in the cecum. This round worm is Ascaris Lumbricoides, one of the most common human parasites in the world. When ingested, the durable Ascaris eggs hatch in the small intestine releasing larva that migrate through the intestinal wall, and t...ravel both hematogenously and lymphatically to the heart and lungs. Over the next several days, the larva mature in the alveoli, then migrate up the trachea to be swallowed back into the gastrointestinal tract. These larva will then mature in the small bowel; adults couples will succeed in producing an extraordinary number of eggs, over 200,000 ova per day. The adults live one to two years. The majority of Ascaris infections are as in this example asymptomatic. Symptoms are a consequence of either the immunologic hypersensitivity of the host to the worm as in the pulmonary stage referred as Loffler's syndrome or to mechanical obstruction of lumen by the worm. Heavy worm burden can result in intestinal obstruction and migrating worms can cause pancreatitis and/or cholangitis when involving the pancreatobiliary tree. Multiple medical therapies are approved for its treatment including mebendazole. Epidemiologically, infections are most common in areas of lower socio-economic conditions. This man manages a pig farm in China that is used to test pharmaceutical agents. From an endoscopic standpoint it is noteworthy that the worms do not like light and will move away fro the attention it is receiving. In this example, the endoscopist was too slow to snare his prey which succeeded in escaping temporarily into the cooler and darker confines of the small bowel out of reach of the endoscope but not from the soon to be consumed anti-helminthic therapy.