Vaginal Helminthiasis: A Little Mentioned Problem in Tropical Medicine
- 1. Department of Tropical Medicine Hainan Medical University, China
Citation
Wiwanitkit V (2017) Vaginal Helminthiasis: A Little Mentioned Problem in Tropical Medicine. JSM Women’s Health 2(1): 1005.
INTRODUCTION
The vagina is an important genital organ of any woman. The problem of vagina is usually a big problem affecting health of the patient. In female, there are many possible medical disorders of the vagina ranging for benign disease to malignancy. The poor vaginal health means the poor woman health and there is a need for prompt diagnosis and treatment. To effectively manage the problem, the practitioner has to realize and recognize the problem.
The infection is an important group of vagina disorder. There are several kinds of vaginal infection (such as bacteria, fungus and protozoa infections). The vaginal helminthiasis is an interesting problem that is little mentioned. In fact, helminthiasis is an important problem in tropical medicine and there are many pathogenic helminthes. The helminths might infect any organs in the human body. In female, the helminthic infection of genital organ is possible. The vaginal infection by a worm is important and need the recognizing by the practitioner
Of several kinds of possible vaginal helminthiasis, the enterobiasis is the most common problem [1]. Enterobiasis is an infection cause by a round work, Enterobiusvermicularis. The worm might be observed in the vaginal smear and this is the clue for diagnosis [1]. The recurrence of the infection is common despite the use of anti-parasitic drug treatment. Kashyap et al. noted that “Recurrent vaginal enterobiasis despite complete treatment and in the absence of any gastrointestinal involvement suggests that the vagina is a potential reservoir for E. vermicularis, which supports the theory of rare ectopic enterobiasis through the ascending pathway of the female genital tract [2].” It can also be seen in the pregnant woman and the complaint might be an abnormal nocturnal vaginal discharge [3]. Another less common vaginal helminthiasis is the vaginal ascariasis. This infection can be diagnosed on vaginal smear as well [4]. Similar to pinworm, egg of Ascariasis lumbricoides can be seen in vaginal cytology [4]. In a more severe case, the problem might extend to cervix and cause cervical ascariasis [5].
In the report by Mali and Joshi [6], the prevalence of the vaginal helminthiasis from India is reported. The prevalence of vaginal enterobiasis and vaginal ascariasis are equal to 0.0547 % and0091 %, respectively [6]. The similar rate might be observed in other developing tropical countries around the world. In the report from USA, the vaginal enterobiasis was observed in 4 from 220,000cases [7]. Mali and Joshi noted that “cytology is useful in the diagnosis of cervical parasitic infections in asymptomatic women [6].” Since helminthisis is still the public health problem in many tropical countries, looking for the vaginal helminthiasis in any female presenting with abnormal vaginal complaint is needed. Looking for possible problem in the cytological smear is the routine practice and the finding of the worm egg might be a possible uncommon finding