Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2008
Abstract
Despite being a common skin dermatosis in the tropics, physicians in the tropics may miss the diagnosis of cutaneous larva migrans for other pruritic skin manifestation. This is especially in those who live in urban housing with no history of travel. Cutaneous larva migrans, an intensely pruritic skin pathology is mainly contracted by people with history of beach holiday or contact with moist soft sand which had been contaminated with dog or cat faeces. This article reports a patient who presented with intensely itchy papular spots over the dorsum of his foot after walking barefooted in an urban toilet soiled with cat faeces. The patient had initially seen an urban general practitioner who diagnosed the papular skin lesion as an allergic reaction, and prescribed antihistamines. The patient subsequently developed creeping skin lesions and was seen by the author who prescribed albendazole 400 mg twice daily for three days. The patient reported reduction in itching after two days of albendazole treatment and a follow up at ten days revealed a healed infection.
Keywords
Larva migrans, Ancylostoma braziliensis, Cutaneous larva migrans, Creeping eruption, Hookworm
Divisions
fac_med
Publication Title
Medical Journal of Malaysia
Volume
63
Issue
4
Publisher
Malaysian Medical Association
Additional Information
This article was accepted: 14 July 2008 Corresponding Author: Noor Zurani Md Haris Robson, Department of Primary Care Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Email: noorzurani@um.edu.my