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.

This short communication describes the phylogenetic analysis of 48 Dirofilaria worms isolated from human patients in Ukraine. 102 cases were both of subcutaneous (47; 46.1%) and ocular (54; 52.9%) locations. Worms from 44 patients (15 subcutaneous and 29 ocular) were subjected to DNA extraction and amplification of a specific fragment of the 12S rRNA subunit, and sequences were used for phylogenetic analysis. Results showed that 13.8% of the ocular cases analyzed at molecular level were caused by D. immitis. Very few cases of ocular human dirofilariosis due to D. immitis have been described in the literature to date, majority of them attributed to D. repens. Our results show that ocular dirofilariosis cannot be excluded in areas of low endemicity for D. repens were D. immitis is also present.

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