Institute of Parasitology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Hlinkova 3, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia.
Small Animal Clinic, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice, Komenského 73, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia.
Parasitol Int. 2022 Apr;87:102495. doi: 10.1016/j.parint.2021.102495. Epub 2021 Nov 2.
Spirurid nematode Thelazia callipaeda, transmitted by the fruit fly Phortica variegata, is a causative agent of an ocular parasitic disease called also canine thelaziosis. Dogs, cats, and wild canids are considered the primary definitive hosts for the parasite, but humans may also serve as aberrant definitive hosts. For long decades the geographic range of T. callipaeda was strictly limited to the territory of Asia, but after the year 2000, the parasite began to spread rapidly through Europe. The first autochthonous infections of dogs and foxes in Slovakia were recorded in 2016. In the present study, the results of a whole-area surveillance for canine thelaziosis are reported. Altogether, 142 cases of infection caused by T. callipaeda were diagnosed by veterinarians in dogs between 2016 and the first quarter of 2021, and two cases of feline thelaziosis were recorded. The majority of the dogs showed mild ocular signs manifested by conjunctivitis; 8.5% of them suffered from more serious mucopurulent discharge, and in two dogs corneal ulceration was recorded. The screening revealed increasing trends in the occurrence of canine thelaziosis from both a temporal and spatial point of view and unambiguously confirms the endemic status of T. callipaeda in Slovakia with the prospect of its further expansion.
旋尾线虫 Thelazia callipaeda，由水果蝇 Phortica variegata 传播，是一种眼部寄生虫病的病原体，也称为犬旋尾线虫病。犬、猫和野生犬科动物被认为是该寄生虫的主要终末宿主，但人类也可能成为异常的终末宿主。几十年来，旋尾线虫的地理范围严格局限于亚洲，但在 2000 年后，该寄生虫开始在欧洲迅速传播。2016 年，斯洛伐克首次记录到犬和狐狸的本地感染。在本研究中，报告了全地区犬旋尾线虫病监测的结果。兽医在 2016 年至 2021 年第一季度之间诊断出 142 例由 T. callipaeda 引起的感染病例，记录了两例猫旋尾线虫病。大多数犬只表现出轻微的眼部症状，如结膜炎；8.5%的犬只出现更严重的黏液脓性分泌物，两只犬只出现角膜溃疡。该筛查结果从时间和空间两个方面均显示出犬旋尾线虫病发生率呈上升趋势，明确证实了 T. callipaeda 在斯洛伐克的地方性流行状态，并有可能进一步扩大。
