Diffuse Unilateral Subacute Neuroretinitis Caused byAncylostomaHookworm

Abstract

Diffuse unilateral subacute neuroretinitis is an ocular infectious disease caused by several distinct nematodes. Definite identification of the involved nematodes is rarely achieved. We report on the molecular-based genetic identification of an Ancylostoma ceylanicum hookworm implicated in a case of diffuse unilateral subacute neuroretinitis in a child.

Enzyme characteristics of pathogen-specific trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatases

“…B. malayi is the causative agent of lymphatic filariasis in humans while A. ceylanicum and T. canis are canid parasites that have recently become zoonotic. Human infections by both species are increasing 16 – 20 and have severe consequences for hosts, particularly where worm migration into the subretinal space may cause blindness 21 , 22 . For this reason, toxocariasis is prioritised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for public health action 23 , with A. ceylanicum infection likely to follow as reports of the worm in humans continue to emerge 19 .…”

Zoonotic Ancylostoma ceylanicum Hookworm Infections, Ecuador

“…Previous evidence for the potential presence of A. ceylanicum hookworms in humans in the Americas is derived from 3 observations: 1) a 1922 autopsy study from northern Brazil identified zoonotic Ancylostoma spp. adult hookworms in human intestines when morphologic differentiation of A. ceylanicum from A. braziliense was still a matter of debate ( 2 ); 2) a molecular analysis of fecal samples from patients at hospitals in France identified A. ceylanicum hookworms in 2 samples, one in a migrant from Colombia and the other in a traveler returning from French Guiana ( 3 ); and 3) diffuse subacute unilateral neuroretinitis in a child adopted from Colombia and living in Germany was molecularly identified as A. ceylanicum infection ( 4 ). One report describes A. ceylanicum identified morphologically in domestic animal populations in South America that originated in Surinam, but no molecular methods were used ( 5 ).…”

Ancylostoma ceylanicum Hookworms in Dogs, Grenada, West Indies

“…In the Americas, A. ceylanicum hookworms have not been considered etiologic agents of human infection, despite isolation of adult worms in 4 of 64 human cadavers in the Amazonas, Brazil, in the early 1920s and, more recently, reported detection of this parasite in travelers returning from countries in Latin America (e.g., Colombia and French Guiana) to France ( 1 , 5 , 10 ). Of note, the geographic distribution of A. ceylanicum hookworms in dogs strongly mirrors that in humans in the Asia–Pacific region ( 2 ).…”