Ernstige pneumonie ten gevolge van infectie met Toxocara

- A 32-year-old man was admitted to the intensive care unit with respiratory failure. The chest X-ray showed bilateral interstitial infiltrates. At first no causative agent for the pulmonary infiltrates and the accompanying eosinophilia could be detected. Because an acute eosinophilic pneumonia was considered the patient was treated with corticosteroids, after which he recovered gradually. Seroconversion of antibodies against Toxocara was observed and consequently a larva migrans syndrome appeared to be responsible for the respiratory failure. There was no history of direct contacts with dogs or cats. In the months prior to admission, however, the patient had moved possibly contaminated earth from a terrain where dogs were walked. In patients with a pulmonary condition and eosinophilia in bronchoalveolar fluid and (or) peripheral blood, larva migrans caused by Toxocara should be considered.