Death Dance-Askariasis In India

Askariasis is a common disease in India and other developing countries. It is considered to be benign condition and the parasite is quite ubiquitous. The surveys of this disease were done between 1982 and 1995 in an endemic Kashmir area. A large motile parasite enters to the human body using natural orifices and lives in the biliary and pancreatic ducts (hepatobiliary and pancreatic ascariasis-HPA). Ascaria is traversing the bile dusts till at some stage dies there (so called death dance). The death parasites form brown-coloured stones which are a direct cause of pyogenic cholangitis. In Kashimir region ascarisis is a common condition occuring in every third patient with acute pancreatitis, is second cause of visit in an emergency room and is a reason of around 12,5% of biliary lithiasis. Ascariasis diagnosis, clinical sympthoms, epidemiology and therapy were described in many publications. Also western physicians needs to know about ascariasis risk due to frequent travels and eastern population emigration. Ascariasis is also common in the Middle East.