A Rare Case of Gastrointestinal Canthariasis Caused by Alphitobius Diaperinus
Abstract
Canthariasis is a human/ animal infestation by larval stages of coleopteran insects - the beetles. This study reports a rare case of gastrointestinal canthariasis caused by Alphitobius diaperinus.
A six-year-old boy presented with complaints of pain abdomen associated with non-bilious, non-blood-stained vomiting for 15 days and a history of passage of worm-like creatures via stools and occasionally in the vomitus. All investigations were normal barring the presence of small worm-like creatures (insect larvae) in stools on naked-eye examination. Treatment with anthelmintics did not provide any relief with continued infestation over the past 3 months. The worms in the stool were identified as larvae of lesser mealworm - Alphitobius diaperinus. Dietary history of consumption of dry fruits infested with Alphitobius diaperinus determined the source of the infestation and the diagnosis, and the appropriate management was thus initiated.
This report implicates Alphitobius diaperinus as a cause of gastrointestinal canthariasis and highlights the importance of dietary history to effectively manage gastrointestinal canthariasis.
How to cite this article:
Tilak R, Sharma A, Kapoor S, Bajaj, S. A Rare Case of Gastrointestinal Canthariasis Caused by Alphitobius Diaperinus. J Commun Dis. 2023;55(1):74-77.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/0019.5138.202311
References
Gałęcki R, Michalski MM, Wierzchosławski K, Bakula T. Gastric canthariasis caused by invasion of mealworm beetle larvae in weaned pigs in large-scale farming. BMC Vet Res. 2020;16:439. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Lewis DJ. Coleoptera of medical interest in the Sudan Republic. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London Series A, General Entomology. Wiley Online Library. 1958;33:37-42. [Google Scholar]
Théodoridès J. The parasitological, medical, and veterinary importance of Coleóptera. Acta Trop. 1950;7:47-60. [Google Scholar]
Park SJ, Ha NR, Ryu SY, Chae JS, Kim HC, Park J, Choi KS, Yu DH, Park BK. Subcutaneous canthariasis due to Tenebrio molitor larva (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) in Egretta intermedia. J Dairy Vet Anim Res. 2016;3(4):134-7.
Palmer ED. Intestinal canthariasis due to Tenebrio molitor. J Parasitol. 1946;32:54-5. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Aelami MH, Khoei A, Ghorbani H, Seilanian-Toosi F, Poustchi E, Hosseini-Farash BR, Moghaddas E. Urinary canthariasis due to Tenebrio molitor larva in a ten year-old boy. J Arthropod Borne Dis. 2019;13(4):416-9. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Sun X, Wang LF, Feng Y, Xie H, Zheng XY, He A, Karim MR, Lv ZY, Wu ZD. A case report: a rare case of infant gastrointestinal canthariasis caused by larvae of Lasioderma serricorne (Fabricius, 1792) (Coleoptera: Anobiidae). Infect Dis Poverty. 2016;5:34. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Cazorla-Perfetti D, Acosta-Quinter M, Morales-Moreno P. First report of a case of canthariasis caused by a darkling beetle larva (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) in Venezuela. Rev Nicaragüense Entomol. 2019;183:3-13. [Google Scholar]
Mokhtar AS, Sridhar GS, Mahmud R, Jeffery J, Lau YL, Wilson JJ, Abdul-Aziz NM. First case report of canthariasis in an infant caused by the larvae of Lasioderma serricorne (Coleoptera: Anobiidae). J Med Entomol. 2016;53(5):1234-7. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Varghese SM, Austoria AJ, Koshy M, Abraham JM. A rare and interesting case of scarabiasis. Int J Contemp Pediatr. 2019;6:2709-11. [Google Scholar]
Spilman TJ. Darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae, Coleoptera). In: Gorham JR, editor. Insect and mite pests in food. United States of America: United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Handbook; 1991;185-214. [Google Scholar]
Rumbos CI, Karapanagiotidis IT, Mente E, Athanassiou CG. The lesser mealworm Alphitobius diaperinus: a noxious pest or a promising nutrient source? Rev Aquacult. 2019;11(4):1418-37. [Google Scholar]
Roche AJ, Cox NA, Richardson LJ, Buhr RJ, Cason JA, Fairchild BD, Hinkle NC. Transmission of Salmonella to broilers by contaminated larval and adult lesser mealworms, Alphitobius diaperinus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Poult Sci. 2009;88(1):44-8. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
De las Casas E, Pomeroy BS, Harein PK. Infection and quantitative recovery of Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli from within the lesser mealworm, Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer). Poult Sci. 1968;47:1871-5. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Bateman T. An account of the larvae of two species of insects discharged from the human body. Edinb Med Surg J. 1811;7(25):41-8. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Vera-Ospina JJ, Berthel-Vergara JM, Silvera-Arenas LA, Villamil-Gómez WE. Accidental ulcer infestation due Tenebrio molitor in an AIDS patient: canthariasis. Int J Infect Dis. 2018;73:253-4. [Google Scholar]
Smadi R, Amr ZS, Katbeh-Bader A, Obidat N, Tawarah M, Hasan H. Facial myiasis and canthariasis associated with systemic lupus panniculitis: a case report. Int J Dermatol. 2014;53:1365-9. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Karthikeyan G, Ganesh R, Sathiasekeran M. Scarabiasis. Indian Pediatr. 2008;45(8):697-9. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Copyright (c) 2023 Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
