[Acute abdomen in childhood caused by intestinal angiostrongylus infection: a case report].

A case of acute abdomen in a one-year-old infant with abdominal angiostrongyliasis is reported. The main clinical and pathologic features of this disease are discussed. The diagnosis is made only through a biopsy that shows maturing stages of the worm within the intestinal wall and/or mesentery. Neither eggs nor larvae have been found in human feces. Treatment has been by surgical resection of the inflammatory mass. The prevalence of this illness is underestimated because of the difficult diagnosis. The main purpose of the present article is to attract attention to this diagnostic possibility as a cause of abdominal pain and acute abdomen in childhood.