Ekbom’s syndrome in a bipolar disorder patient: a case report

Introduction: Ekbom syndrome is a rare condition in which the patient believes that his or her body is infested by worms or other parasites.This condition is associated to mental ilness in 81% of cases. There is not a final statement about the best psychofarmacological treatment of this condition. Objective: The present study presents a case report on which an elderly woman with bipolar disorder has shown Ekbom syndrome. Method: This study lists a case report of a 69 yerar-old woman with bipolar disorder. This patient had presented the belief that worms were walking under her skin during the past few months. She had a previous diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Depressive symptoms were intense. The patient was followed up in an outpatient psychiatric service for 120 days. Lurasidone was introduced and some drugs were discontinued. Result: One month after starting treatment with lurasidone, there was a significant improvement of delusional beliefs of Ekbom syndrome. Such improvement was associated with the improvement of the bipolar depressive condition in this case. Conclusion: Ekbom syndrome is a rare kind of delusion. Its etiology is not fully understood. We presented a case of an elderly woman with previous diagnosis of bipolar disorder with Ekbom syndrome. To our knowledge, there are no other case reports informing the use of lurasidone in bipolar depression associated with Ekbom syndrome.

Ekbom Syndrome: A Case Report

Delusional parasitosis, also known as delusional infestation or Ekbom syndrome, is a somatic type of delusional disorder, usually mono‑symptomatic, in which patients are convinced they are being infested with animal parasites while no objective evidence to support their belief exists. Complaints are usually about skin infestation, but involvement of the gastrointestinal tract has also been described. We describe a case of a 59‑year‑old woman with delusional parasitosis claiming to be infected with Strongyloides stercoralis.