DurgicalDurgical
EN
Open the app

Microbiology · Other parasites of interest

Lagochilascaris minor !

  • Parasite
  • For completeness

A rare worm of the American rainforest that forms chronic abscesses in the neck, ear or throat after eating undercooked bushmeat.

Updated 2026-11-01

Also called: lagochilascariasis

At a glance

Family
Ascarididae
Type
Ascarid tissue nematode
Size
Adults from half a centimetre to about six centimetres

Morphology

  • Adult with three lips and lateral alae along the body, like a small Ascaris.
  • Eggs, larvae and adults appear together in the abscess pus.

Transmission

  • Eating undercooked meat of wild animals (forest rodents) with encysted larvae.
  • Not spread from person to person.

Reservoir: Wild felids and cats (definitive hosts); Wild rodents (intermediate hosts)

Isolation precautions

What the care team adds to standard precautions.

  • Standard

Life cycle

  1. Eggs reach the environment from the definitive host.
  2. A rodent swallows them and the larvae encyst in its muscles and tissues.
  3. A felid (or a human) eats the rodent's meat with larvae.
  4. The larvae move up the upper digestive tract to the neck, pharynx, ear or cervical nodes.
  5. There they mature and lay eggs; autoinfection in the same focus keeps the lesion going for years.

Virulence factors

  • Chronic granulomatous abscesses with sinuses draining pus that contains the parasite.
  • Autoinfection explains chronicity and relapses.
  • It can spread to bone, middle ear, lung or central nervous system, with fatal cases.

Diseases it causes

  • Lagochilascariasis: chronic abscesses of the neck, mastoid, ear or tonsil

Clinical picture

  • A neck nodule or mass that abscesses and forms sinuses, discharging pus and sometimes worms.
  • Chronic otitis or mastoiditis, tonsil or nasopharyngeal lesions.
  • Severe forms with lung or brain involvement.

Diagnosis

  • Seeing eggs, larvae or adults in the pus or sinus discharge.
  • Biopsy: granulomas with giant cells and sections of the parasite.
  • A history of rural rainforest life and eating bushmeat.

Treatment

Anthelmintics such as levamisole, ivermectin or albendazole, often with surgical drainage or excision; relapses are common and treatment is usually prolonged.

Drug class only; doses and regimens are set by the clinician from the current guideline.

In Pharmacology:

Prevention

  • Cooking wild-animal meat thoroughly.

Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

Where are Lagochilascaris minor lesions most often found?

In the neck, mastoid, ear and tonsils, as chronic abscesses that form sinuses.

How do humans become infected with Lagochilascaris?

By eating undercooked meat of wild animals, such as rodents, that carry encysted larvae.

Why do the lesions last for years?

Because the parasite completes its cycle in the same focus: eggs, larvae and adults are found together, with autoinfection.

Add to my cards (3)

← Back to the group: Other parasites of interest

Educational content on microorganisms; not a treatment guide and no substitute for a health professional's advice. No doses are given.

Sources: Lagochilascaris minor IN A PATIENT FROM THE COLOMBIAN AMAZON: A CASE REPORT (Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo, 1998); Parasitosis humanas (Botero y Restrepo), 5.ª ed. (Corporación para Investigaciones Biológicas (CIB), 2012).

Spotted a mistake?We are always improving for the community. Tell us what is wrong and our team will review it.Report a mistake

Representative model, for educational purposes only.