Also known as: Raccoon roundworm infection
A 10-year-old severely autistic boy presents with screaming, chest pain, and cardiac arrest. Worms from raccoon feces in sandbox spread throughout his body, causing lung effusion, liver cell migration to lymph nodes, heart conduction abnormalities, and ocular muscle paralysis as parasites invaded his eye.
Also known as: Asperger's syndrome
Adam is severely autistic and nonverbal, unable to make eye contact or communicate conventionally. His autism is central to the episode as it makes diagnosis difficult and House sees himself in the condition, exploring themes of social detachment and alternative communication.
Also known as: Fluid around the lungs
Exudative pleural effusion discovered during workup, initially thought to indicate heart failure or infection, later revealed to be caused by parasitic larval migration to the lungs.
Also known as: Fetal heart block
First-degree AV block discovered on echocardiogram and EKG, progressing to ventricular fibrillation requiring resuscitation. Initially unexplained, later attributed to parasitic invasion.
Also known as: Valley Fever
A 17-year-old girl who previously visited the clinic returns with what she thinks is her father's rhinovirus, but House diagnoses fungal spores in her brain from an earthquake in Fresno, causing disinhibition and inappropriate sexual advances toward House.
Also known as: Eating disorder causing stomach perforation
Adam's tendency to eat non-food items (chalk, sand) is recognized as pica, which led to his ingestion of parasite-contaminated sand from the sandbox.