Surgical aspects of intestinal ascariasis

At the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, a common differential diagnosis of acute abdomen is intestinal ascariasis. This condition mimics many causes of acute abdomen so that accurate pre-operative diagnosis depends mainly on a high index of suspicion.The purpose of this paper is to call attention to this condition which is prevalent in tropical countries, where preventive and social medicine have not reached their peak, and to review the pathological processes resulting from this disease.