Strongyloidiasis: a mistaken diagnosis and a fatal outcome in a patient with diarrhoea

A patient who died in the UK from Strongyloides infection, which he had contracted in the West Indies, is described. The diagnosis was not suspected initially because he had not been forthcoming about his origins. The infection was more severe because the patient was also infected with the human T cell leukaemia/lymphoma virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and this may explain why the infection with Strongyloides was fatal. The features of the case are outlined to help other clinicians faced with such a patient.