DIROFILARIASIS CONJUCTIVAE: THE FIRST CASE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Abstract

There has never been a case of dirofiliriasis conjunctivae recorded in Bosnia and Herzegovina until now. It is true that German scientists described one case in the woman who stayed in the region of former Yugoslavia, Italy and Spain in 1984 and she might have been infected in one of these countries. The aim of this work is to present the first case of ocular Dirolfiliriasis in a female patient in Tuzla. Patient BD, born in 1946 was admitted to Ophthalmology department in Tuzla on May 10th 2007 with a diagnosis of: Conjunctivitis oc.dex., parasitosis subconjunctivae dex. On May 11th 2007 a parasite was removed, 105.6 mm long, 0.473 wide with cephalic part slightly curved and esophagus length of 15mm. It was concluded that the discovered parasite is the member of Filaridae family and Dirofilaria species. Eoosinophilia with 17% eosinophiles was found in the peripheral blood smear. The presented case indicates that Dirofilariosis can be found in the region of Bosnia Herzegovina.