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Letters to the Editor Indian Pediatrics 2001; 38: 1064 |
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Throat Clearing Habit and Ascariasis |
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An 11-year-old male child presented with the habit of repeatedly producing throat clearing sounds, as if trying to clear throat. The detailed history and phsical examination did not reveal any abnormality. He was evaluated for throat infection, asthma and behavioral abnormality. The hemoglobin, total and differential white blood counts and X-ray chest were done, the results of which were within normal limits. The child was studying in class VI, there were no problems in school or family and past medical history was insignificant. The parents were worried about the disturbing symptom of throat clearing sounds on a regular basis. As no abnormality was detected on physical examination and routine investiga-tions, parents were counseled about the benign nature of condition and advised to ignore the symptom, as paying attention to it, may help in establishing it as habit disorder. A few weeks later, the parents informed that the child had passed a lot of round worms in stool, the child was given anthelminthic drugs and he passed many more round worms. Following this, gradually his habit of throat clearing disappeared. Ascariasis can have different manifesta-tions which include failure to thrive, abdominal pain and distension, vomiting, gastric ascariasis, upper gastrointestinal bleeding(1), intestinal obstruction(2), liver abscess(3), cough and bronchospasm. This child had a combination of habit of producing throat clearing sounds and ascariasis. This combination may have been a coincidence. However, it may be worth investigating for ascariasis in children presenting with this symptom and treating those found to be positive. A.K. Rawat,
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