Periorbital mass with cellulitis caused by dirofilaria.

Dirofilariasis is a zoonotic disease caused by Dirofilaria, a parasite of domestic and wild animals. The disease is transmitted by inoculation of mosquitoes infected with the microfilariae during their blood meal. Accidental infection of man results in lung nodule, subcutaneous mass anywhere in the body or ocular lesion that may be subconjunctival or periorbital. The incidence of ocular dirofilariasis is on the rise in several parts of India particularly in Kerala. Here we report a case of ocular dirofilariasis with cellulitis presenting as a periorbital mass.

Orbital Dirofilariasis in Iran: A Case Report

Dirofilariasis is a common parasitic disease in both domestic and wild animals around the world, with canines as the principal reservoir host and mosquitoes as the vector. Human ophthalmic dirofilariasis is an uncommon condition, but there have been reports from many parts of the world, including Africa, Australia, the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Ophthalmic involvement with Dirofilaria may present itself as periorbital, subconjunctival, orbital, or intraocular infections. In this report, we present a case of orbital dirofilariasis with lateral rectus muscle involvement. To our knowledge, this is the first orbital dirofilariasis case reported in Iran. Although debulking of the tumor usually leads to resolution, our patient showed an episode of recurrence after biopsy. Complete recovery was achieved after a spontaneous discharge, without the need for systemic medication.

Ocular dirofilariasis in Dubai, UAE.

A rare occurrence of ocular subconjunctival dirofilariasis in a 53-year-old healthy Indian male working in Dubai, UAE presenting with an acute red eye is reported. Surgical excision under topical anesthesia was carried out uneventfully in the outpatient clinic. The live worm removed from the subconjunctival space was identified as Dirofilaria repens on the basis of microscopic examination and histopathology. Surgical excision of subconjunctival dirofilariasis is safe in an outpatient setting and curative precluding the need for further systemic antihelminthics.

Hemoparásitos en bovinos, caninos y equinos diagnosticados en el laboratorio de Parasitología de la Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnica de la Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (1984-1999) / Hemoparasityes in domestic animals, diagnosed in the parasitology laboratory of the Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia of the universidad Autónoma de Yucatan (1984-1999)

Introducción. Los hemoparásitos son organismos que pueden ser transmitidos a los animales domésticos por vectores mecánicos y biológicos. Su presencia en los animales domésticos produce cuadros hemáticos que afectan la salud animal. Material y métodos. Se revisaron los archivos del laboratorio de Parasitología de la Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia de la Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, de marzo de 1984 a diciembre de 1999. Se obtuvo la información de las muestras sanguíneas de bovinos, caninos y equinos que fueron remitidas y procesadas mediante las técnicas de Knott y frotis sanguíneos teñidos con Giemsa al 10 por ciento. Resultados. Se analizaron un total de 3010 muestras sanguíneas, de las cuales 2438 fueron de bovinos, 493 de caninos y 79 de equinos. Los hemoparásitos que se diagnosticaron en las distintas especies animales fueron los siguientes: bovinos: Babesia bovis (2.78 por ciento), Babesia bigemina (1.23 por ciento) y Anaplasma marginale (15.79 por ciento); caninos: Dirofilaria immitis (7.42 por ciento), Dipetalonema reconditum (5.88 por ciento) y Babesia canis (3.92 por ciento), y equinos: Babesia equi (3.79 por ciento) y Babesia caballi (2.53 por ciento). Conclusiones. Se concluye que los bovinos, caninos y equinos del estado de Yucatán se encuentran afectados por hemoparásitos que pueden afectar la salud y/o producción animal.

Human ocular dirofilariasis in Kerala Southern India.

A twenty-six year old female presented to the Ophthalmology OPD with swelling of the upper eyelid. On excision, two long, thin, dead worms were removed. Microscopic and HPE showed the worms to belong to the Dirofilaria species.

Histopathological diagnosis of subcutaneous Dirofilaria repens infection in humans.

The host tissue response in humans, based on a study of biopsies of 14 subcutaneous nodules caused by Dirofilaria repens is described. The response was characterized by accumulation of eosinophilic material or eosinophilic pus adjacent to the parasite with surrounding granulomatous inflammation associated with extensive eosinophil infiltration of the surrounding tissue. Unlike with fungal lesions, fat necrosis was conspicuously absent. Nodules were all less than 3 cm in size. Fifteen percent of the smaller nodules (less than 1 cm) and 30% of the larger nodules required extensive examination of tissue to visualize the parasite. It is concluded that when typical tissue reactions are seen, extended histological processing is indicated for accurate diagnosis of dirofilariasis, by demonstrating the parasite.

A comparison of the efficiency of the Nuclepore and Millipore filtration systems for detecting microfilariae.

Using Brugia pahangi or Dirofilaria immitis as the test organisms no significant difference could be detected between Nuclepore and Millipore filters. It was found that 0.7% of microfilariae passed through the Millipore and 1% through the Nuclepore filters. No microfilariae were lost from the Nuclepore membrane during the staining process.