Case study: South East Asia Worms
You are working with a medical group that has donated time andeffort and international health organization.
Your group is spending two weeks at a remote part of thePhilippine islands. A child has been admitted to the unit.
You were not present upon the admission, nor were you presentwhen report was given concerning the child.
However, you did make rounds within the ward and you areobservant of the child.
The child is in diapers and mist be almost 18 months old. Thechild looks malnourished.
The child is not assigned to you but is in your unit(ward).
At 2am, the two co-workers in the ward go on break and you arealone in the unit.
Screams emanate from the child’s room
When you walk into the room, you are met with a scene not soonforgotten.
Actually, you will never forget the scene.
On the bed next to the child is a pile of at least 10-15 wormswhich are about 6-10 inches long about half the diameter of apencil, tapered on either end, and light colored.
It appears as if these worms were the results of emesis.
One worm is exiting a nostril.
One worm is curled on the top of the head.
Worms are crawling out of the diaper.
Hint: the worm is to big to be a pin worm.
Case study report questions
- What organism is this?
- What should you immediately do?
- What dedication had been given? What medication, if any, shouldbe given?
- How is this disease spread? Give the complete life cycle.
- What do these worms do to the child? (explain the disease andthe disease process.)
- What is the prognosis?
