Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2022 May 22;14(5):e25208.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.25208. eCollection 2022 May.

Ascaris Lumbricoides Diagnosed During Evaluation of Iron Deficiency Anemia by Capsule Endoscopy

Polina Gaisinskaya  1 , Samantha Sugerik  1 , Christopher M Gebara  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Ascaris Lumbricoides Diagnosed During Evaluation of Iron Deficiency Anemia by Capsule Endoscopy

Polina Gaisinskaya et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a common medical condition that has numerous possible causes, which include reduced dietary intake, blood loss, or reduced absorption, and often results in a referral to a gastroenterologist for further work-up. Reduced absorption of iron is an uncommon cause of iron deficiency in healthy non-vegetarian individuals and resource-rich countries. We present an uncommon cause of IDA in the western hemisphere, secondary to Ascaris lumbricoides infection in a 65-year-old female without a history of travel to endemic regions.

Keywords: anemia; ascaris lumbricoides; capsule endoscopy; iron-deficiency anemia; video capsule endoscopy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Panels A-D revealed the live viewer for the capsule endoscopy, which captured the large roundworm located in the terminal ileum
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ascaris and ascariasis. Dold C, Holland CV. Microbes Infect. 2011;13:632–637. - PubMed
    1. Prevalence and risk factors of Ascaris Lumbricoides, Trichuris Trichiura and Cryptosporidium infections in elementary school children in Southwestern China: a school-based cross-sectional study. Yang D, Yang Y, Wang Y, et al. http://10.3390/ijerph15091809 Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Soil-transmitted helminth infections. Jourdan PM, Lamberton PHL, Fenwick A, et al. Lancet. 2018;20:252–265. - PubMed
    1. Ascaris lumbricoides diagnosed during evaluation of iron deficiency anemia by capsule endoscopy. Gaisinskaya P, Ghiwot Y, Sunny A, et al. Amer J of Gastro. 2021;116:952. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Detection of Ascaris lumbricoides by capsule endoscopy. Poliakov PP, Alimetov AY, Onopriev AV, Avakimyan AV, Kade AK. Balkan Med J. 2019;36:143–144. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources