Strongyloides stercoralis infection: an underlying cause of invasive bacterial infections of enteric origin. Results from a prospective cross-sectional study of a northern Italian tertiary hospital.
Infection
; 51(5): 1541-1548, 2023 Oct.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37462896
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY We assessed the prevalence of S. stercoralis in a cohort of inpatients with invasive bacterial infections of enteric origin to investigate whether the parasite may facilitate these bacterial infections even in the absence of larval hyperproliferation. METHODS:
We performed a prospective cross-sectional study in a hospital in northern Italy. Subjects admitted due to invasive bacterial infection of enteric origin and potential previous exposure to S. stercoralis were systematically enrolled over a period of 10 months. S. stercoralis infection was investigated with an in-house PCR on a single stool sample and with at least one serological method (in-house IFAT and/or ELISA Bordier). Univariate, bi-variate and logistic regression analyses were performed.RESULTS:
Strongyloidiasis was diagnosed in 14/57 patients (24.6%; 95% confidence interval 14.1-37.8%) of which 10 were Italians (10/49, 20.4%) and 4 were migrants (4/8, 50.0%). Stool PCR was performed in 43/57 patients (75.4%) and no positive results were obtained. Strongyloidiasis was found to be significantly associated (p ≤ 0.05) with male gender, long international travels to areas at higher endemicity, deep extra-intestinal infectious localization and solid tumors. In the logistic regression model, increased risk remained for the variables deep extra-intestinal infectious localization and oncologic malignancy.CONCLUSIONS:
Our findings suggest a new role of chronic strongyloidiasis in favoring invasive bacterial infections of enteric origin even in the absence of evident larval dissemination outside the intestinal lumen. Further well-designed studies should be conducted to confirm our results, and possibly establish the underlying mechanisms.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Strongyloidiasis
/
Bacterial Infections
/
Strongyloides stercoralis
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Infection
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italy