Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2008 Jan-Feb;56(1):76-8.
doi: 10.4103/0301-4738.37610.

Intravitreal live adult Brugian filariasis

Nageswar G Rao  1 , Sontosh K Mahapatra, Sabyasachi Pattnayak, Kaumudee Pattnaik
Affiliations
Case Reports

Intravitreal live adult Brugian filariasis

Nageswar G Rao et al. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2008 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Human ocular infestation by live filarial worm is a rare occurrence and has been reported mostly form South-East Asia. It involves the eyelids, conjunctiva, cornea, anterior chamber and uvea. No case of intravitreal Brugian microfilaria / adult worm has been found by Medline search. Here we report a case of live intravitreal adult Brugian filaria, where the parasite was successfully removed by pars plana vitrectomy. Identification of the worm was done by light microscopy and confirmed by immuno chromatographic test.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Live intravitreal Brugian worm with active motility seen between the optic disk and macula
Figure 2
Figure 2
The worm is extracted live and intact after limited vitrectomy holding the vitreous strands around the worm
Figure 3
Figure 3
Light microscopic picture of the worm showing twisted body curves, smooth cuticles, transverse striations and ventrally curved tail (100x)
Figure 4
Figure 4
Light microscopic picture of head end of the parasite showing slight bulging (400x)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Dissanaike AS, Bandara CD, Padmini HH, Ihalamulla RL, Naotunne TS. Recovery of a species of Brugia, probably B. ceylonensis, from the conjunctiva of a patient in Sri Lanka. Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 2000;94:83–6. - PubMed
    1. Ichhpujani RL, Bhatia R. Medical parasitology: Filariasis. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers; 2002. pp. 160–1.
    1. Babu S, Nutman TB. Lymphatic filariasis. In: Cox FE, Wakelin D, Gillespie SH, Despommier DD, editors. Topley and Wilsen′s Microbiology and Microbial infection (Parasitology) 10th ed. London: Hodder Arnold; 2005. pp. 769–80.
    1. Orihel TC, Eberhard ML. Zoonotic filariasis. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1998;11:366–81. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Biswas J, Gopal L, Sharma T, Badrinath SS. Intraocular gnathostoma spinigerum: Clinico-pathological study of two cases with review of Literature. Retina. 1994;14:438–44. - PubMed

Publication types