Pulmonary capillariasis in a child in Iran.

A 9-year-old boy in Teheran, Iran developed severe asthmatic symptoms, productive cough, and moderate eosinophilia. Lung biopsy demonstrated a helminth in a granulomatous lesion with foreign-body type cellular reaction leading to a tentative diagnosis of visceral larva migrans. Diethylcarbamazine, thiabendazole, and steroids were given, rapidly relieving the symptoms. In a subsequent review of the biopsy the helminth was identified as a Capillaria, probably Capillaria (Thominx) aerophila, a nematode parasite of dogs, cats, and other carnivores, apparently the ninth such infection to be reported in man.