Canine and feline thelaziosis caused by Thelazia callipaeda in Serbia

Abstract

Thelazia callipaeda is a parasitic nematode causing ocular infections in different mammalian species and humans, clinically manifested as lacrimation, conjunctivitis, keratitis, corneal opacity or corneal ulcer. In this paper, we reported six cases of autochthonous canine and feline thelaziosis on different localities in Serbia. Total of 285 parasites (85 males and 200 females) were collected from the eyes of infected animals (n=6) suffering from uni- or bilateral conjunctivitis, with the number of parasites ranging from 7 to 150 per animal. All parasites were morphologically identified as T. callipaeda, while molecular analyses of cytochrome oxidase 1 (cox1) gene revealed the presence of h1 haplotype, as the unique previously reported in other studies in Europe. Since T. callipaeda is a newly detected parasite in Serbia with the infective potential for humans, there is a necessity for animal owners education and cooperation among professional services in order to control this zoonosis.

Thelazia callipaeda je parazitska nematoda koja izaziva infekciju oka različitih vrsta sisara i ljudi, a koja se klinički manifestuje pojačanim suzenjem, pojavom konjuktivitisa, keratitisa, zamućenja rožnjače ili pojave ulcera na rožnjači. U ovom radu opisani su nalazi autohtone telazioze pasa i mačaka na šest različitih lokaliteta u Srbiji. Iz očiju inficiranih životinja (n=6) sa simptomima uni- ili bilateralnog konjuktivitisa sakupljeno je 285 parazita (85 mužjaka i 200 ženki), pri čemu se broj parazita po životinji kretao od 7 do 150. Svi paraziti morfološki su identifikovani kao T. callipaeda, dok su molekularne analize citohrom oksidaza 1 (cox1) gena utvrdile postojanje h1 haplotipa, koji je do sada i jedini utvrđeni haplotip ovog parazita u Evropi. S obzirom da se radi o novootkrivenom parazitu na teritoriji Srbije koji može inficirati i ljude, neophodno je uložiti napore u edukaciju vlasnika životinja i saradnju stručnih službi u cilju kontrole ove zoonoze.