A Case Report of an Intestinal Helminth Infection of Human Hymenolepiasis in Rural Gambia

Abstract

Background: Hymenolepis nana, also called dwarf tapeworm infection, is an intestinal helminth not previously reported in The Gambia and only very rarely reported in West Africa.

Case presentation: We report a case of H. nana infection in a 29-month-old child living in a rural community of the north bank of the Upper River Region (URR) in The Gambia. The child presented with mild iron deficiency anaemia and granulocytosis but was otherwise mostly asymptomatic despite the moderate-intensity of infection.

Conclusions: We support treatment of H. nana infection even in largely asymptomatic children to prevent autoinfection and spread of this intestinal helminth in The Gambia and in other West African countries.

Abbreviations: GCP: Good Clinical Practice; HAZ: Height-for-age z-score; IHAT-GUT: Acronym for the Iron Hydroxide Adipate Tartrate Supplementation Study; ICH: International Conference on Harmonisation; SD: Standard Deviation; URR: Upper River Region; WAZ: Weight-for-age z-score; WHO: World Health Organization; WHZ: Weight-for-height z-score.

Keywords: Children; Hymenolepiasis; Hymenolepis nana; Tapeworm; The Gambia.

Figure 1

Image of the parasite identified as Hymenolepis nana. This picture was taken using a mobile phone facing the eyepiece whilst the object remains focused on the microscope stage with x 40 objective. Eggs were 30-50 pm and egg morphology was confirmed as representative of H.nana eggs based on CDC guidelines (https://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/hymenolepiasis/index.html).