A CASE REPORT HUMAN THELAZIASIS FROM ZUNYI, CHINA

Minghui Zheng1-7**, Lingjun Wang1,7**, Bing Jiang8, Xiaohong Ren1, Yujuan Shen2-6* and Hui Liu1,7*

Abstract

Human thelaziasis has not been previously reported from Zunyi, Guizhou Province, China. We report here the case of thelaziasis from Zunyi, China. A 72-year-old male, who did farming in the mountains with poor sanitary conditions, and owned one raised dog, reported to the doctor with complaints of foreign body sensation, and occasionally some black object moving in front of the left eye. He had removed two thread-like worms from the left eye with his finger the week before coming to the hospital. Ophthalmologic examination revealed several thread-like worms moving in the outer canthus of his left eye. A total of 10 worms were found and retrieved. The worms were morphologically identified as Thelazia callipaeda (T. californiensis) and confirmed by mitochondrial cox1 gene sequencing. Gene sequencing revealed to the worms have a novel haplotype not previously described. Thelaziasis due to T. callipaeda can infect humans in Zunyi, China. Physicians should be alerted to include thelaziosis as the possible cause of ocular infections in differential diagnosis.