In a rare case, a parasitic roundworm Dirofilaria immitis , which is usually found in infected dogs and cats, was surgically removed from the eye of a 60-year-old woman at Sankar Foundation Eye Hospital here.
The 13.5-cm-long worm caused acute pain, irritation and redness in the left eye of the patient. Bharati from Pendurthy area approached to the hospital, with the complaints of severe pain and redness in her eye on February 19.
According to the doctors, when they tried to scan the eye, the worm could not be detected.
The doctors at the hospital sent the patient home advising that she should come to hospital immediately if she experienced pain in the eye.
Ms. Bharati came to the hospital again at around 10.30 p.m. on that day and a team of doctors removed the worm alive from her left eye around the midnight.
Rare surgery
The worm was later sent to a medical laboratory and the pathologist confirmed it as Dirofilaria immitis , which is commonly found in dogs and spreads through mosquito bites.
“It is a very rare case. We haven’t heard of such worms infecting humans in India so far. There were cases reported from the U.S. and Europe, but the worm generally infects heart and lungs. When a mosquito bites an infected dog or cat and bites a human, the parasite spreads through the subcutaneous tissue into the blood vessels and eventually into the heart,” Dr. Nasrin, Head of the Department of Cornea, Sankar Foundation, explained here on Friday.
Dr. Sampath and Dr. Bhuvan were also present on the occasion.
Published - February 23, 2019 01:11 am IST
