A 31-year-old woman complained of itchiness and foreign body sensation in the right
eye for half a month, which got so unbearable that she visited our emergency room.
She reported no systematic medical history and recalled that a tiny black unknown
insect had flown into her eye 1 month ago. Her uncorrected visual acuity was 20/20
binocularly. Upon slit lamp examination, 2 whitish thread-like worms were discovered
in the inferior-temporal conjunctival sac and more parasites were found in the superior-temporal
conjunctival fornix (Figure A). After topical application of amethocaine eyedrops, a nest of 7 worms was removed
with microsurgical biceps (Figure B). Severe folliculosis was seen in the palpebral conjunctiva (Figure C). The worms were identified as Thelazia callipaeda by the Parasitology Department.
On light microscopic examination, we observed a distinctive scalariform buccal capsule
(black arrow) in the head end, serrated cuticle with transverse striations (black
arrowheads) and esophagus-intestine junction (white arrowhead) (Figure D). Tobramycin and dexamethasone eye drops were applied for 1 week. During 6 months’
follow-up, the patient’s symptoms were completely resolved and no recurrence of ocular
inflammation or larvae was observed.
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References
- Parasites creeping in the eye.Am J Med Sci. 2016; 352: e9
- Human thelaziosis—a neglected parasitic disease of the eye.J Parasitol. 2006; 92: 872-875
- Eye can see a nest of worms!.Lancet. 2012; 379: e42
- A pediatric case of thelaziasis in Korea.Korean J Parasitol. 2016; 54: 319-321
Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
January 19,
2018
Received in revised form:
January 10,
2018
Received:
July 30,
2017
Footnotes
☆The authors have no financial or other conflicts of interest to disclose.
☆☆This study was supported by Medical Scientific Research Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No. A2016271) and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2016A030313208).
☆☆☆This study was supported by Medical Scientific Research Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No. A2016271) and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2016A030313208). The funding organizations played no role in the design and conduct of this study.
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© 2018 Published by on behalf of Southern Society for Clinical Investigation
