Trichinosis in an Immunosuppressed Human Host

Abstract

The clinical presentation and autopsy findings in the case of a patient with acute myelomonocytic leukemia and trichinosis are described. Cellular immunity is an important host defense against nematode infections such as strongyloidiasis. It is therefore probable that the severe trichinosis seen in this immunosuppressed patient was more than coincidental. Due to concomitant failure of humoral immunity, serodiagnosis of trichinosis would have been impossible. The only means of making the diagnosis antemortem would have been muscle biopsy.