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Diseases » Creeping disease » Causes

Causes of Creeping disease

Contents

Creeping disease Causes: Book Excerpts

Related information on causes of Creeping disease:

As with all medical conditions, there may be many causal factors. Further relevant information on causes of Creeping disease may be found in:

Hidden causes of Creeping disease

Causes of Creeping disease: Online Medical Books

16 MEDICAL BOOKS ONLINE! Review excerpts from medical books online, free, without registration, for more information about the causes of Creeping disease.

Cutaneous larva migrans: Causes and incidence
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Under favorable conditions — warmth, moisture, sandy soil — hookworm or roundworm ova present in feces of affected animals (such as dogs and cats) and hatch into larvae, which can then burrow into human skin on contact. After penetrating its host, the larva becomes trapped under the skin, unable to reach the intestines to complete its normal life cycle.

The parasite then begins to move, producing the peculiar, tunnel-like lesions that are alternately meandering and linear, reflecting the nematode’s persistent and unsuccessful attempts to escape its host.

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Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Cutaneous Larva Migrans: Cutaneous Larva Migrans - risk factors
(The 5-Minute Pediatric Consult)

Contracted from soil contaminated with dog and cat feces
Occupational exposures occur from crawling under buildings, such as among plumbers and pipefitters.
Route of spread:
- Primary host (dog or cat) passes eggs to ground through feces
- Warm, sandy soil acts as an incubator
- Eggs mature into rhabditiform larvae (noninfectious), which molt in 5 days to filariform larvae (infectious)
- Incubation period from infection to symptoms usually 7–10 days, although can range up to several months

Cutaneous Larva Migrans - pathophysiology

Humans are accidental hosts.
Filariform larvae penetrate the epidermis either through hair follicles or fissures or through intact skin with the use of proteases.
Diagnosis is usually clinical. Organisms are rarely recovered from biopsy and antibody titers are unreliable because symptoms are due to hypersensitivity to the organism or its excreta, and immunity usually does not develop.

Cutaneous Larva Migrans - etiology

Most common organism is the dog or cat hookworm, Ancylostoma braziliense.
Other species include Ancylostoma canium, Uncinaria stenocephala, and Bunostomum phlebotomum.

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Source: The 5-Minute Pediatric Consult, 2008