[Armillifer agkistrodontis disease: report of case]

A case of Armillifer agkistrodontis disease was reported. Armillifer agkistrodontis is a species of the Armillifer genus of the Linguatulida order and parasitizing agkistrodon acutus. According to literature reviewed, there has been no report of this disease caused by infection of Armillifer agkistrodontis in human being prior to this case all over the world. The clinical features of this disease are long-term high fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, mild anemia, hepatosplenomegaly, eosinophilia in bone marrow and blood and multiple polyps in the whole colon. The pathologic features of the liver biopsy was degeneration and necrosis of hepatocytes and obvious infiltration of eosinophils. This disease should be differentiated from several other diseases which can also cause hepatomegaly, long-term high fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Mebendazole is an effective medication for this disease, but the long term effect of praziquantel is not certain. It is necessary to make further studies on the epidemiology, etiology, pathology, natural history, clinical features, diagnosis, differential diagnosis and therapy of this disease.