AMONG THE hardy perennials of maternal folklore is the belief that worms cause fits. In giving the history of a child's epilepsy, many mothers tell of giving vermifuges in an effort to exorcise the worms thought to be responsible for the seizures. There is little accurate information available on the subject of convulsions in cases of ascariasis.
Occasional reports of convulsions as a symptom of Ascaris lumbricoides infestation occur in the literature. Worth1 described several cases of febrile convulsions which he ascribed to worms. Carver2 described two similar cases. Grant3 remarked that Ascaris was thought to produce fever and convulsions in India. Wilkinson4 described a case of epileptiform convulsions in a child with worms and remarked that fever and convulsions were a well-recognized result of worms "among the poorer classes." Duprey5 described a fatal case of an 8-year-old boy who died after having several convulsions,