Porocephaliasis is a condition associated with species in the closely related genera '' Porocephalus'' and '' Armillifer''. (The term "pentastomiasis" encompasses all diseases of

Pentastomida The Pentastomida are an enigmatic group of parasitic arthropods commonly known as tongue worms due to the resemblance of the species of the genus ''Linguatula'' to a vertebrate tongue; molecular studies point to them being degenerate crustaceans ...

, which includes porocephaliasis and linguatulosis.) Porocephaliasis is associated with contact with snakes. (This is in contrast with linguatulosis, which is associated with contact with dogs or wolves.) It has been reported from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

. Its occurrence has been rare in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and North America where it has been found in immigrants and travelers.

Transmission and presentation

It is prevalent in parts of Africa and Asia where eating snake meat is common. In Africa it has also been associated with groups who use the snake as a totem. Unlike linguatuliasis, humans are only ever an accidental intermediate host for ''Armillifer'', i.e. the larvae establish themselves in the visceral organs causing human visceral pentastomiasis, but adults do not occur in the human respiratory system. After a while the larvae die within the host and sometimes calcify, leaving characteristic crescent-shaped structures seen in X-ray. In extreme cases a heavy parasite burden can have serious medical consequences and can even be fatal.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is by histopathology.

Treatment and prevention

No treatment is necessary in asymptomatic patients, but there is no

antiparasitic Antiparasitics are a class of medications which are indicated for the treatment of parasitic diseases, such as those caused by helminths, amoeba, ectoparasites, parasitic fungi, and protozoa, among others. Antiparasitics target the parasitic age ...

pharmacotherapy Pharmacotherapy is therapy using pharmaceutical drugs, as distinguished from therapy using surgery (surgical therapy), radiation (radiation therapy), movement (physical therapy), or other modes. Among physicians, sometimes the term ''medical ther ...

or medical treatment available for pentastomiasis. Surgery may be needed for infection by many parasites. Infection can be prevented by washing the hands after touching snake secretions or meat and cooking snake meat thoroughly prior to consumption.

References

External links

{{Arthropod infestations Arthropod infestations