EXTRAPULMONARY DIROFILARIA-IMMITIS-LIKE INFECTIONS IN THE WESTERN-HEMISPHERE

One worm recovered from the orbit of a patient in Indiana, and two fro m the peritoneal cavity of another patient in California are described and classified as Dirofilaria. Both patients were elderly men who hav e lived all their lives in the United States. The main morphologic fea ture of these three immature worms is the presence of a smooth cuticle devoid of longitudinal ridges, similar to the cuticle of D. immitis. However, because other dirofilariid with similar cuticular characteris tics have been found in animals in the Western Hemisphere, and they ca nnot be conclusively ruled out as the cause of the infection in our pa tients, a diagnosis of D. immitis-like organism is proposed for these nematodes. The relationship of these worms to other dirofilariid of an imals and humans on the American continent is important because of the diagnostic problems these infections posed to practicing pathologists .