Intraocular Gnathostoma spinigerum: a case report

Abstract

Live intraocular nematode is a rare occurrence that is mostly reported in South East Asian countries. Herewith we report such a case from Nayagarh district of Odisha. A 28 year old female presented with swelling, redness, lacrimation, pain & diminished vision of left eye since 2 1/2 years. Slit lamp examination revealed a worm piercing iris muscle. The worm was removed by paracentesis of anterior chamber and sent to the Department of Microbiology. It was identified to be Gnathostoma spinigerum basing on the typical morphology of its cephalic end. The patient responded completely to oral albendazole therapy.

Occurrence of Gnathostoma spinigerum in a leopard cat from Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala

“…Gnathostomosis is a zoonotic disease as it causes larva migrans in humans and has recently been recognised as an emerging cause of eosinophilic encephalomeningitis in man (Diaz 2010). Moreover, ocular gnathostomosis was reported from different states of India like Meghalaya and Assam (Barua et al 2007), Maharashtra (Sujata and Renu 2013), West Bengal (Basak et al 2004), Odisha (Tiwari et al 2009), Tamil Nadu (Sucilathangam et al 2013), Pondicherry (Rao et al 1999) as well as Kerala (Mathews et al 2011;Pillai et al 2012). In addition, the first case of cutaneous manifestation of Gnathostoma sp.…”

Ocular Gnathostomiasis in Brazil: A Case Report

“…Ocular involvement may occur years after the initial infection. Therapeutic success depends on early and complete surgical removal, which could be lifesaving since no antiparasitic drugs are available to treat the ocular involvement [12]. …”

Emerging and Re-Emerging Parasitic Zoonoses in India

“…In 1994, two more cases were reported from Madras, Tamil Nadu (Biswas et al, 1994). Recently, cases were reported from Orissa (Tiwari et al, 2009) and Kerala (Pillai et al, 2011). Even though, the condition is a rare clinical entity in the current scenario, it has the potential to emerge as zoonosis in near future.…”

“…Gnathostomosis is a very rare zoonotic infection in humans (Tiwari et al, 2009), which is caused by ingestion of improperly cooked meat of fish or frog that harbour the immature third stage larvae (Soulsby, 1982) of Gnathostoma spinigerum. Humans act as paratenic host.…”