SUBCONJUNCTIVAL INFECTION WITH DIROFILARIA REPENS - SEROLOGICAL CONFIRMATION OF CURE FOLLOWING SURGERY

Cases of zoonotic dirofilariasis infection, caused by Dirofilaria repe ns, occur widely throughout European, African, Middle Eastern, and Asi an countries. The reports of this infection in humans in Spain are lim ited, and we herein report the case of a 43-year-old man from Elche (A licante), Spain, who was seen with acute hyperemic reactivity of the t emporal limbus of the right eye. A large nematode was visualized on ex amination and the intact worm was surgically removed. The parasite was identified as a mature but infertile female D repens. The level of se rum antibodies against D repens was monitored for 6 months after surge ry using immunoenzymatic assays. Serological results confirmed, as exp ected, the presence of a single worm and the parasitological cure afte r the surgical removal of the parasite. To our knowledge, this is the fourth autochthonous case of D repens infecting humans in Spain and al so the first autochthonous case of subconjunctival localization.