Increase in Eyeworm Infections in Eastern Europe

Colella, Vito; Kirkova, Z.; Fok, Éva; Mihalca, Andrei Daniel; Otašević, Suzana; Hodžić, Adnan; Dantas‐Torres, Filipe; Otranto, Domenico

doi:10.3201/eid2208.160792

Cited by 39 publications

(32 citation statements)

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“…Considering that all presented cases were diagnosed in animals that had never travelled abroad, there is clear evidence of an autochthonous occurrence and thereby of the further spread of this nematode across Europe. While in the past decades canine thelaziosis has been commonly diagnosed in Italy and western European countries, during the last few years, new cases are being regularly reported from eastern Europe [10, 16]. The autochthonous infections presented here confirm the parasite’s establishment in a new area, and to the best of our knowledge, with latitude of 48°N, this could be considered as the most northerly located within western and central Europe.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

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First autochthonous cases of canine thelaziosis in Slovakia: a new affected area in Central Europe

Čabanová

Kocak²,

Víchová

et al. 2017

Parasites Vectors

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BackgroundThe spirurid nematode Thelazia callipaeda, also called the “Oriental eyeworm”, is the causative agent of canine and human ocular thelaziosis. In the past few years it has started to spread across central Europe and new endemic areas have been established. The present study reports on the first four autochthonous cases of canine ocular thelaziosis in the territory of Slovakia, Central Europe.ResultsAll cases were recorded in dogs living in eastern Slovakia, near the border with the Ukraine. All worms collected were investigated morphologically and their identification further confirmed at the molecular level by PCR amplification and direct sequencing. Nucleotide sequences of partial T. callipaeda cox1 and 28S rDNA gene fragments isolated from Slovak dogs were submitted to the GenBank database under accession numbers KY476400 and KY476401, respectively.ConclusionsConsidering that all four cases were diagnosed in animals that had never travelled abroad, there is clear evidence of an autochthonous occurrence and thereby the further spread of T. callipaeda across Europe. Moreover, at latitude of 48°N, these cases might be considered as the northernmost recorded cases of autochthonous in western and Central Europe.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…Nevertheless, T. callipaeda has now for the first time been recorded in one dog from Hungary [16]. Furthermore, the ecological niche model [17] showed that central Europe (including all of the above-mentioned countries) is suitable for the establishment of the vector P. variegata .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First autochthonous cases of canine thelaziosis in Slovakia: a new affected area in Central Europe

Čabanová

Kocak²,

Víchová

et al. 2017

Parasites Vectors

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“…The large case series of infection by T. callipaeda in dogs, cats and a rabbit from Northern and Central Greece clearly indicate that the infection is rapidly spreading throughout the country. This is in line with the increase in the number of reports of thelaziosis in animals and humans living in Eastern European countries, including Romania (Mihalca et al., ), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Hodžić et al., ), Croatia (Hodžić et al., ; Paradžik et al., ), Serbia (Tasić‐Otašević et al., ), Hungary and Bulgaria (Colella et al., ). Indeed, except for a supposedly autochthonous case report from a dog in 2015 (the parasite was not molecularly sequenced; Diakou et al., ), at the best of authors’ knowledge, T. callipaeda has never been diagnosed before in Greece.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, an increase in T. callipaeda infections has been reported in animals and humans living in Eastern European countries (Colella et al., ). In Greece information on T. callipaeda is limited to a single case report (presumably autochthonous) from an infected dog living close to the borders with the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (Diakou, Di Cesare, Tzimoulia, Tzimoulias, & Traversa, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spreading of Thelazia callipaeda in Greece

Papadopoulos

Komnenou

Thomas

et al. 2017

Transbound Emerg Dis

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Summary Thelazia callipaeda (Spirurida, Thelaziidae), the so‐called oriental eyeworm, has been increasingly reported as an agent of infection in animals and humans from many European countries. Clinical signs range from subclinical to moderate or severe ocular disorders (e.g., epiphora, photophobia, conjunctivitis, keratitis, ulcers). The disease has been also diagnosed in animals from countries of the Balkan area (e.g., Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia), but only a single case of canine thelaziosis, presumably autochthonous, was reported in Northern Greece. In this study, we provide robust information of the occurrence of thelaziosis in Greece by reporting autochthonous cases of thelaziosis in dogs (n = 46), cats (n = 3) and in one rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) living in Northern and Central regions of Greece. The occurrence of a single haplotype of the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene confirms that the same zoonotic haplotype of the parasite circulating in Europe is also spreading in Greece. The increased awareness of this parasitosis is crucial to limit the risk of further infections in both humans and animals in European countries.

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“…Although males of this zoophilic drosophilid feed on the lachrymal secretions of mammals, they may transmit T. callipaeda infective L3 to the definitive host (Otranto et al ., ). Subsequent to its first record of autochthonous transmission in Italy, 20 years ago (Otranto et al ., ), this eyeworm has rapidly expanded across Europe, now being considered endemic in many continental European countries (Colella et al ., ; Palfreyman et al ., ). In addition, this parasitosis is becoming established in domestic and wild carnivores in Europe (Otranto & Deplazes, ), with an increasing zoonotic potential.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Survival of Phortica variegata experimentally and naturally infected with Thelazia callipaeda

Arme

Lia

Annoscia

et al. 2019

Medical Vet Entomology

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Knowledge of the effects that Thelazia callipaeda (Spirurida, Thelaziidae) infection has on the survival of its vector Phortica variegata (Drosophilidae, Steganinae) is scarce. The present study aimed to: (a) assess the rate of infection between experimentally infected (EI) and not experimentally infected (NEI) flies and (b) determine how T. callipaeda infection may affect the survival of P. variegata. In addition, fat composition was evaluated in flies that died during overwintering. Molecular analysis showed that T. callipaeda prevalence in flies that died before experimental infection, plus those from the NEI group, is 0.75% (i.e. 11 out of 1462 individuals). The EI group showed a significantly higher positivity to T. callipaeda (i.e. 51 out of 682 individuals; 7.48%) compared with the NEI group (i.e. 9 out of 750 individuals; 1.2%). Thelazia callipaeda DNA was detected until 147 days after experimental infection. This demonstrates that larvae of this eyeworm may survive in the fly for a significant period of the winter. Fat composition analysis showed that flies produced more unsaturated than saturated fatty acids during diapause, probably because unsaturated fatty acids remain in a liquid state at lower temperatures, providing anti-freeze properties to survive winter.

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Increase in Eyeworm Infections in Eastern Europe

Cited by 39 publications

References 10 publications

First autochthonous cases of canine thelaziosis in Slovakia: a new affected area in Central Europe

First autochthonous cases of canine thelaziosis in Slovakia: a new affected area in Central Europe

Spreading of Thelazia callipaeda in Greece

Survival of Phortica variegata experimentally and naturally infected with Thelazia callipaeda

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