HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Simpson, T. W. Articles by Chinen, S. S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Simpson, T. W. Articles by Chinen, S. S.

Eosinophilic Meningitis in Okinawa

Three Suspected Cases of Angiostrongyliasis in Man

Thomas W. Simpson^*, Tsuyoshi Yonamine, Eitatsu Henzan, Takeo Nishihira AND Steven S. Chinen

Three cases of eosinophilic meningitis were observed in 1969 on Okinawa, in the Ryukyu Islands between 26°04' and 26°51' North latitude. Each of the patients exhibited a clinical picture similar to that seen in Angiostrongylus cantonensis infections elsewhere in the Pacific Ocean area and Southeast Asia. Infection by this metastrongylid nematode is endemic in populations of Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus in Okinawa and certain other islands of the southern Ryukyus. In the cases in man, there had been exposure to infection by direct contact with an intermediate host, the abundant snail Achatina fulica, in one instance by deliberate ingestion in the raw state, but other modes of transmission were not excluded. These are the first suspected cases of angiostrongyliasis in man in the Ryukyu Islands and, to our knowledge, the only such cases in the subtropics at this latitude that have been reported.

Accepted for publication January 13, 1970.

^* Present address: Department of Pathobiology, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21205.

University of Hawaii School of Medicine, Postgraduate Medical Education Program in Okinawa, c/o Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands, APO San Francisco 96248.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. KUBERSKI Eosinophils in the Cerebrospinal Fluid Ann Intern Med, July 1, 1979; 91(1): 70 - 75. [Abstract] [PDF]