Introduction
Ekbom syndrome is a delusion of infestation characterized by a fixed false belief that a person is infected with living or non-living organisms, which persists for at least one month(1). For the diagnosis, the patient must believe that they are infected with insects despite evidence to the contrary, and there are aberrant cutaneous sensations attributable to these beliefs(2).
Patients usually decline psychiatric treatment and are treated mainly by non-psychiatric experts, particularly dermatologists, for several years before psychiatric evaluation(3). Females are more affected than males(4) and the peak age of onset ranges from 55 to 68 years. However, it can also develop among teens, and recreational substance use has been linked with the etiology of symptoms among individuals between the ages of 20 and 40(5).
The patients usually experience body itching accompanied by compulsive scratching with nails, needles, and razors and also complain of insects crawling on their skin, where patients may even carry containers to the doctors to prove their conviction(6). The use of both conventional and atypical antipsychotics is effective in treating a delusional of infestation, and depot antipsychotics also result in considerable symptom remissions in case of poor adherence(7).
This is a case of a 70-year-old female with a 17-year history of living with HIV and hypertension for 25 years. A dermatologist referred her with a five-year history of progressive disturbance in functioning due to perceptions of generalized body itching attributed to a firm belief of being infested with insects that lead to intense compulsive body scratching behavior. A low dose of haloperidol was effective in alleviating psychotic symptoms; however, she developed severe depressive symptoms a few weeks later, which also resolved after several months of treatment.