Killer Worms

Intestinal capillariasis caused by Capillaria philippinensis appeared first in the Philippines and subsequently in Thailand, Japan, Iran, Egypt, and Taiwan, but most infections occur in the Philippines and Thailand. As established experimentally, the life cycle involves freshwater fish as intermediate hosts and fish-eating birds as definitive hosts. Embryonated eggs from feces fed to fish hatch and grow as larvae in the fish intestines. Infective larvae fed to monkeys, Mongolian gerbils, and fish-eating birds develop into adults.

Larvae become adults in 10 to 11 days, and the first-generation females produce larvae. These larvae develop into males and egg-producing female worms. Eggs pass with the feces, reach water, embryonate, and infect fish. Autoinfection is part of the life cycle and leads to hyperinfection. Humans acquire the infection by eating small freshwater fish raw. The parasite multiplies, and symptoms of diarrhea, borborygmus, abdominal pain, and edema develop. Chronic infections lead to malabsorption and hence to protein and electrolyte loss, and death results from irreversible effects of the infection.

Treatment consists of electrolyte replacement and administration of an antidiarrheal agent and mebendazole or albendazole. Capillariasis philippinensis is considered a zoonotic disease of migratory fish-eating birds. The eggs are disseminated along flyways and infect the fish, and when fish are eaten raw, the disease develops.