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Global status of neglected human Linguatula infection: a systematic review of published case reports

  • Helminthology - Review
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Abstract

Human linguatulosis is a rare but highly specialized pentastomid parasitic infection all around the world. The disease is caused by worm-like parasites which share some morphologic features of arthropods and annelids. The life cycle of Linguatula spp. is provided as an example of pentastomid biology. The adult forms of Linguatula spp. are found in the nasal passages and frontal sinuses of dogs and other canids, domestic animals, and humans. Infestation may occur in the viscera, where immature forms develop in the liver, spleen, lungs, eyes, and other organs, or in the nasopharyngeal area. This review includes previous studies on the genus Linguatula in Iran and other countries from 1940 to 2019. Considering a few reports of human infestation, a comprehensive search was performed on both English and Persian databases for publications reporting human cases all around the world. Finally, 30 papers of 62 human cases were included in this study. The mean age of the patients was 25.8 years (varied from 8 to 79 years). Altogether, 41 (66.1%) and 21 (33.9%) of the patients were female and male respectively. The maximum cases (n = 25) were from Sudan. Nasopharynx was the most frequently involved organ in human cases. Our findings offer that physicians should consider the Linguatula infection in patients with complaints like unexpected dysphagia, with coughing, sneezing, and vomiting, after consuming raw/undercooked contaminated ruminant’s viscera.

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Data availability

The data and materials used in the study are available upon request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all of the authors for their efforts in diagnosing these cases and publishing their findings.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran (Grant No: 6602).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Toxoplasmosis Research Center, Communicable Diseases Institute, Iranian National Registry Center for Lophomoniasis (INRCL) and Toxoplasmosis (INRCT), Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, 48471-91971, Sari, Iran

    Rabeeh Tabaripour, Masoud Keighobadi, Ali Sharifpour, Hossein Azadeh, Elham Sadat Banimostafavi, Mahdi Fakhar & Soodeh Abedi

  2. Vector-Borne Diseases Research Center, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran

    Azar Shokri

Authors
  1. Rabeeh Tabaripour
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  2. Masoud Keighobadi
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  3. Ali Sharifpour
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  4. Hossein Azadeh
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  5. Azar Shokri
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  6. Elham Sadat Banimostafavi
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  7. Mahdi Fakhar
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  8. Soodeh Abedi
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Elham Sadat Banimostafavi or Mahdi Fakhar.

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Ethics approval

This study was approved by Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran (IR.MAZUMS.REC.1398.1439).

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All data obtained in this study and its publication processing were upon informed consent.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Tabaripour, R., Keighobadi, M., Sharifpour, A. et al. Global status of neglected human Linguatula infection: a systematic review of published case reports. Parasitol Res 120, 3045–3050 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-021-07272-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-021-07272-y

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