Diagnosis and surgical intervention of acute appendicitis secondary to enterobius vermicularis: case report

Acute appendicitis is the most common cause of acute abdominal pain in the pediatric population. The physiopathology is secondary to luminal obstruction of the appendix by several causes, among these, one of the rarest is due to parasitosis by Enterobius vermicularis in 0.005–3 %. We hereby present a case of a 10-year-old Latin male with abdominal pain with irradiation to right iliac fossa, nausea, vomiting and fever, following the national Mexican guides for ultrasound and blood tests were ordered, patient was treated with laparoscopic appendectomy with intraoperative finding of live helminths, which pathology examination revealed to be Enterovirus vermicularis. The patient has an uneventful postoperative course and was discharged after completing antiparasitic therapy. The lessons from this case are the importance of a good and quick diagnosis for acute abdomen in children, the possibility of a parasitic entity in the finding of eosinophilia with appendicitis and the good results with the correct surgical treatment.