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Several Cases of Ocular Dirofilariasis in Bulgaria
1Department of Infectious Diseases, Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Sofia, University Hospital "Prof. Iv. Kirov", Sofia, Bulgaria, velev_md@abv.bg.
Objectives:
In this study, we describe ocular dirofilariasis in Bulgaria.
Materials And Methods:
We studied 7 patients with a subconjunctival or periorbital form of Dirofilaria repens infection during 2010-2019. Morphological, serological, and paraclinical diagnostic methods were used.
Results:
The patients (6 females, 1 male) were aged between 23 and 72 years. In 3 patients, subcutaneous nodules were detected in the area of the upper eyelid, in 1 patient the location was suborbital. In 3 other patients, a subconjunctival location was found. All patients were cured definitively by removal of the larva, without etiologic treatment.
Conclusion:
The most reliable and easily accessible diagnostic method is morphological analysis by microscopy of histological preparations of the parasite. In dirofilariasis, ocular location is the most common in humans, and it deserves special attention of clinicians.
