Dirofilariosis is a vector-borne parasitic disease mainly of domestic and wild carnivores caused by the species Dirofilaria(Noctiella) repens-which isendemic in many countries of the Old World - and D. immitis- which hasa worldwide distribution. In recent years, an increase in the number of human cases has been reported, suggesting that dirofilariosis is an emergent zoonosis. Here we described further 4 cases of human dirofilariosis, observed in Central Italy during the year 2017-2018. Subcutaneous nodular painless masses were observed at the inguinal level (1), parenchymal lung (2), ocular conjunctiva (3) and coccyx (4), in patients referred at the Umberto I Policlinic, Rome (1-2), Pisa Hospital (3), and Pescara Hospital (4), respectively. Surgically removed nodules (1-2-3) and the parasite itself (4)were embedded in paraffin block for histological analysis. The microscopical observation of the histological sections, revealed the presence of a nematode enclosed in the nodule. For the identification to species level, DNA was extracted from the paraffin block (Shi et al., 2002) and the mtDNA cox1(about 650-bp) gene fragment was PCR-amplified using filarioid-generic primers (Casiraghi et al., 2004). Amplicons were then purified and sequenced. On the basis of the morphological features, all the worms were preliminary referred to Dirofilariasp.The sequence analysis of the samples showed a match of 100% with the mtDNA cox1sequence of D. repensdeposited in GenBank (a.n. DQ358814.1). The occurrence of new cases of human D. repens-infections observed in about 1 year, suggests an increased spreading of these parasites in Italy. Since ourCountry is that with the highest number of human dirofilariosis reported cases in Europe (probably for the scientific tradition in the field), dirofilariosis should be included in the differential diagnosis in patients presenting subcutaneous and pulmonary nodules, and specific serological methods should be set up.
Molecular identification of three cases of human dirofilariosis due to Dirofilaria repens from Central Italy
V. Mangano;F. Bruschi;
2018-01-01
Abstract
Dirofilariosis is a vector-borne parasitic disease mainly of domestic and wild carnivores caused by the species Dirofilaria(Noctiella) repens-which isendemic in many countries of the Old World - and D. immitis- which hasa worldwide distribution. In recent years, an increase in the number of human cases has been reported, suggesting that dirofilariosis is an emergent zoonosis. Here we described further 4 cases of human dirofilariosis, observed in Central Italy during the year 2017-2018. Subcutaneous nodular painless masses were observed at the inguinal level (1), parenchymal lung (2), ocular conjunctiva (3) and coccyx (4), in patients referred at the Umberto I Policlinic, Rome (1-2), Pisa Hospital (3), and Pescara Hospital (4), respectively. Surgically removed nodules (1-2-3) and the parasite itself (4)were embedded in paraffin block for histological analysis. The microscopical observation of the histological sections, revealed the presence of a nematode enclosed in the nodule. For the identification to species level, DNA was extracted from the paraffin block (Shi et al., 2002) and the mtDNA cox1(about 650-bp) gene fragment was PCR-amplified using filarioid-generic primers (Casiraghi et al., 2004). Amplicons were then purified and sequenced. On the basis of the morphological features, all the worms were preliminary referred to Dirofilariasp.The sequence analysis of the samples showed a match of 100% with the mtDNA cox1sequence of D. repensdeposited in GenBank (a.n. DQ358814.1). The occurrence of new cases of human D. repens-infections observed in about 1 year, suggests an increased spreading of these parasites in Italy. Since ourCountry is that with the highest number of human dirofilariosis reported cases in Europe (probably for the scientific tradition in the field), dirofilariosis should be included in the differential diagnosis in patients presenting subcutaneous and pulmonary nodules, and specific serological methods should be set up.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
