Meeting Abstract

P3.41  Monday, Jan. 6 15:30  Parasite Pal: A Rare Occurence of Human Infection by Gongylonema pulchrum ALLEN, J.D.*; ESQUELA-KERSCHER, A; College of William and Mary; Eastern Virginia Medical School jdallen@wm.edu

We describe a rare case of human infection by the nematode Gongylonema pulchrum. The parasite was isolated from the oral cavity of a resident of Williamsburg, Virginia who was serendipitously trained as an invertebrate biologist. Following isolation of the worm, we verified the identity of the parasite as Gongylonema through both morphological and molecular genetic approaches. Our data provide the first genetic confirmation of infection by this genus of nematode in humans. We highlight here both the occurrence of this parasite as well as the obstacles to obtaining an accurate medical diagnosis of gongylonemiasis. We discuss the possibility of widespread infection of humans by nematode worms and provide suggestions for approaches to rapidly and accurately detect the prevalence of Gongylonema in human subjects. We present no data on host phenotypic manipulation by the parasite, but cannot rule out the possibility.