ABSTRACT
Strongyloides may persist in the host for decades. Evidence of infection for more than 40 years has been documented among British soldiers who were prisoners of war in the Far East during World War II. There is no endemic focus of strongyloides in the United Kingdom so that the original infection must have occurred during their incarceration in Thailand or Burma. Among 2,072 former prisoners who were studied between 1968 and 2002, 12% had strongyloides infection. There was a strong association between being held in captivity along the infamous Thai-Burma railway and the presence of strongyloides in stool specimens. Among 248 individuals with strongyloides, 70% had the typical larva currens rash and 68% had eosinophilia.
