Parasitic diseases of zoonotic importance in humans of northeast India, with special reference to ocular involvement

Abstract

Parasitic zoonotic diseases are prevalent in India, including the northeastern states. Proper epidemiological data are lacking from this part of the country on zoonotic parasitic diseases, and newer diseases are emerging in the current scenario. Systemic manifestation of such diseases as cysticercosis, paragonimiasis, hydatidosis, and toxoplasmosis are fairly common. The incidence of acquired toxoplasmal infection is showing an increasing trend in association with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Among the ocular parasitic diseases, toxoplasmosis, cysticercosis, toxocariasis, dirofilariasis, gnathostomiasis, hydatidosis, amebiasis, giardiasis, etc, are the real problems that are seen in this subset of the population. Therefore, proper coordination between various medical specialities, including veterinary science and other governing bodies, is needed for better and more effective strategic planning to control zoonoses.

Live encysted Thelazia callipaeda presenting as a lump adjacent to the right lacrimal sac in a 42-year-old female: A rare case report

“…Maximum number of cases have been reported from the Northeastern part of the country, that is, seven cases, four from Assam and three from Manipur. [ 1 10 11 12 13 ] This could be attributed to the tropical climate with hilly terrain and longer monsoon period, which is favorable for the growth of arthropods, and subsequently, the vector-borne diseases. [ 14 ]…”

“…Even though 10 cases of thelaziasis have been reported in India, only one study is available regarding its epidemiology. [ 1 3 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ] Thus, an epidemiological study should be undertaken to study the true picture of ocular thelaziasis in India.…”

Parasitic Eye Disease in India and the World- A Major Review

“…Ocular disease occurs due to toxins as well as larval migration. 49 The commonest ocular feature is anterior uveitis. 50,51,52 There are other ocular features like lid swelling, iris atrophy, iris holes, intraocular haemorrhage, glaucoma, retinal scars and retinal detachment.…”

Larval Gnathostoma: morphological identification and probable source of a case of human eye infection in Assam, India

“…Twenty-two corresponding human cases of gnathostomiasis recorded so far from India (Pillai et al, 2012;Rawat et al, 2016; Mohanty and Mahapatra, 2020) [16,17,18] since 1945 were due to G. spinigerum larva involving the eye in 20 cases and the rest with cutaneous involvement. In the Northeast region of India, out of 6 human cases under report, four cases of gnathostomiasis due to G. spinigerum have been reported from Assam (Barua et al, 2007;Bhattacharjee et al, 2007;Islam et al, 2011;Das et al, 2014) [3,19,20,21] and one each from the states of Meghalaya (Barua et al, 2007) [3] and Manipur (Mukherjee et al, 2012) [22] . The present communication reports identification of G. doloresi from a case of ocular gnathostomiasis in a rural nontribal woman from Assam and evaluation of the possible risk factors which led to the infection in the patient.…”