Human dirofilariasis due to Dirofilaria repens in Ukraine, an emergent zoonosis: epidemiological report of 1465 cases

Abstract

The filarial nematode Dirofilaria repens is currently considered to be one of the most extensively spreading human and animal parasites in Europe. In Ukraine, reporting cases of dirofilariasis has been mandatory since 1975, and the disease was included in the national surveillance system for notifiable diseases. Up until December 31st 2012, a total of 1533 cases have been registered, with 1465 cases occurring within the previous 16 years. Most of the cases of dirofilariasis were registered in 6 regions: Kyiv, and the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Chernihiv oblasts. In the years 1997-2002 the highest incidence rate was noted in the Kherson oblast in the south of the country (9.79 per 100 000 people), and the lowest in western Ukraine (0.07-1.68 per 100 000 people). D. repens infections were registered in all oblasts. Parasitic lesions were most often located in the head, the subconjunctival tissue and around the eyes. D. repens lesions were also found in the limbs, torso, male sexual organs, and female mammary glands. Dirofilariasis was diagnosed in persons aged from 11 months to 90 years old, most often among people between 21-40 years of age. Most patients had only one parasitic skin lesion; the majority of isolated nematodes were female. The results of our analysis point to a constant increase in D. repens dirofilariasis incidence in humans in Ukraine. Despite educational efforts, infections have become more frequent and the territory in which the disease occurs has enlarged to encompass the whole of Ukraine. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian sanitary-epidemiological services managed to achieve some measure of success, e.g. by creating a registration system for D. repens infections and establishing proper diagnostics for the disease.

Human ocular dirofilariosis in Slovakia, a case report

“…As observed by other authors, visual status usually remained intact after surgical removal of the worm (Koltas et al, 2002;Maraghi et al, 2006;Mittal et al, 2008;Argy et al, 2011;Otranto et al, 2011a;Otranto et al, 2011b). Diagnosis of human dirofilariosis is primarily based on histological evaluation of infected tissue and the macroscopic characteristics of the worm (Rouhani & Athari, 2003;Nath et al, 2010;Tafti et al, 2010;Argy et al, 2011;Otranto et al, 2011b). Confirmation of morphological identification and definite diagnosis of D. repens is possible by DNA analysis with polymerase chain reaction (Vakalis et al, 1999) and primers for a highly specific portion of COI gene.…”

“…Infectious stage -third larval stage is transmitted by mosquitoes of genera Aedes, Culex, Anopheles, etc., that commonly occur in the Slovak region. The first diagnosed autochthonous canine dirofilariosis in Slovakia was caused by D. repens in 2005 (Svobodová et al, 2005), and in 2007 the first case of human subcutaneous dirofilariosis was identified in the patient from western Slovakia, who has never travelled abroad (Babál et al, 2008). Since the year 2007, 4 cases of human subcutaneous dirofilariosis caused by D. repens in Slovakia have been reported in total (Babál et al, 2008;Ondriska et al, 2010;Nováková et al, 2011;Hrčková et al, 2013).…”

“…Dirofilariosis is a zoonotic disease with growing incidence in the Mediterranean region of Europe (Genchi et al, 2005;Argy et al, 2011;Cielecka et al, 2012;Salamatin et al, 2013). It is caused by the filarioid worms of genus Dirofilaria.…”

Subconjunctival Infection due to Dirofilaria Repens ‐Case Report

“…In recent years, there has been an increasing number of publications on this topic on the territory of Ukraine and Russia. Human dirofilariosis was registered in Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary (2,18,19).…”

Dirofilariasis in Russian Federation: a big problem with large distribution

“…Dirofilariasis is an important vector-borne and globally distributed zoonotic disease [1][2][3] and it is a single vector-born disease caused by a nematode in the Russian Federation [4]. The disease is caused by roundworms in the genus Dirofilaria (Nematoda: Onchocercidae) and is naturally transmitted by mosquitoes.…”