Poliana Tudor, Iuliana Ionașcu, Cosmin Ion Mateescu, Marcos Antonio Bezerra-Santos, Maria Rodica Gurău, Romanița Elena Mateescu, Elvira Gagniuc, Niculae Tudor, Domenico Otranto
Onchocerca lupi is a vector-borne filaroid which affects wild (i.e., wolves, coyotes) and domestic carnivores (i.e., dogs, cats), and occasionally humans. This nematode causes ocular damage due to the location of adult worms embedded in the eye connective tissues. Several human cases of onchocercosis by O. lupi have been reported in Europe, Asia, north Africa, and the USA where the infection thrives in dogs and less frequently in cats. In this study, we review clinical aspects of feline infestation by O. lupi, and report the first case of this onchocercid in a cat from Romania, showing a subconjunctival mass located at the medial canthus of the right eye; worms were surgically removed from the ocular nodule and morphologically and molecularly identified...
October 22, 2022: Acta Tropica