Tropical pyomyositis and human toxocariasis: a clinical and experimental study.

IInfection with Toxocara canis larvae usually occurs through the ingestion of contaminated rabbit, pork, beef, or chicken (1,2). In children, pica is a common source of infection. Pyomyositis is a bacterial infection of the skeletal muscles. Most cases occur in the tropics, hence the term tropical pyomyositis (3,4). In the United States, the disease is very uncommon, occurring mostly in patients who have recently immigrated from the tropics. The presumed pathogenesis of pyomyositis involves a prior bacteremia with Staphylococcus aureus, which is responsible for 95% of the cases in tropical areas and 75% of the cases in North America. As yet, there is no convincing evidence that relates pyomyositis to predisposing circumstances that are peculiar to the tropics, such as malaria, filariasis, or arbovirus infection. We present clinical and experimental data about the association between T. canis infection and tropical pyomyositis caused by S. aureus (5–7).