[Durgical](https://durgical.com/en/) › [DurgiPedia](https://durgical.com/en/durgipedia/) › [Microbiology](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/) › [Other parasites of interest](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/groups/other-parasites-of-interest/) › Lagochilascaris minor

[Microbiology](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/) · [Other parasites of interest](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/groups/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

## Key points

- Chronic neck or ear abscess with worms in the pus in a rainforest dweller: think Lagochilascaris.
- Caught by eating undercooked bushmeat with encysted larvae.
- Eggs, larvae and adults together in the lesion: there is autoinfection.

## 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

- Eggs reach the environment from the definitive host.
- A rodent swallows them and the larvae encyst in its muscles and tissues.
- A felid (or a human) eats the rodent's meat with larvae.
- The larvae move up the upper digestive tract to the neck, pharynx, ear or cervical nodes.
- 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:

- [Ivermectin](https://durgical.com/en/pharmacology/ivermectin/)
- [Albendazole](https://durgical.com/en/pharmacology/albendazole/)

## Prevention

- Cooking wild-animal meat thoroughly.

## In Colombia

It has been described in Colombia: the first cases came from the north-western rainforest on the Panama border, and in 1998 the third Colombian case, the first from the Amazon, was published. Brazil accounts for most cases in the Americas.

## Memory aid

The Ascaris that stayed in the neck: it arrives in bushmeat, never goes down to the gut, settles up high and festers.

## 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.

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## Related

- [Ascaris lumbricoides](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/ascaris-lumbricoides/)
- [Toxocara canis / Toxocara cati](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/toxocara-canis-toxocara-cati/)

## What the colours mean

**Gram-positive**
Thick peptidoglycan wall: stains purple.

**Gram-negative**
Thin wall with an outer membrane: stains pink.

**Acid-fast**
Lipid-rich wall (mycobacteria): Ziehl–Neelsen stain.

[← Back to the group: Other parasites of interest](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/groups/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](https://www.scielo.br/j/rimtsp/a/G9dk8djHF4mN4kdCMx9d8Hs/abstract/?lang=en) (Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo, 1998); Parasitosis humanas (Botero y Restrepo), 5.ª ed. (Corporación para Investigaciones Biológicas (CIB), 2012).

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Representative model, for educational purposes only.

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License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Cite as: DurgiPedia (durgical.com), https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/lagochilascaris-minor/