Human Gongylonema infection in a resident of New York City

A case of infection with Gongylonema is described in a 41-year-old woman li ving in New York City. The patient sought medical attention with the compla int of a sensation of 1-year duration of something moving in her mouth. On two occasions she removed worms from her mouth, once from her lip, once fro m the gum. One of the specimens submitted for examination was an adult fema le Gongylonema. It is not possible to say whether the infection was acquire d in New York City, or elsewhere, since the patient traveled frequently to Mississippi to visit relatives. As cases of delusional parasitosis continue to increase, clinicians and laboratorians alike need to be alert to the po ssibility that foreign objects removed from the mouth, or elsewhere, may in deed represent unusual parasitic infections, and that these objects should be examined before being discarded.