Human Pulmonary Dirofilariasis Due to : The First Italian Case Confirmed by Polymerase Chain Reaction Analysis, with a Systematic Literature Review.

Dirofilariasis is a zoonosis caused by nematodes of the genus is cosmopolitan as regards its distribution in animals, being responsible for human pulmonary dirofilariasis in the New World. However, human infections by are exceptional in Europe, and the previously reported Italian cases of pulmonary dirofilariasis were due to . We performed a systematic literature review of the Italian cases of human dirofilariasis due to according to the PRISMA guidelines. We also report the first autochthonous case of human pulmonary dirofilariasis due to , confirmed by polymerase chain reaction analysis. The patient was a 60-year-old man who lived in the Po river valley and had never traveled abroad; on histological examination, the 2-cm nodule found in his right upper lung was an infarct due to a parasitic thrombotic lesion. Only one other autochthonous (but conjunctival) case due to (molecularly confirmed) was previously found in the same geographic area. Climatic changes, the increasing movements of animal reservoirs and vectors, and new competent carriers have expanded the geographic distribution of the species, increasing the risk of human infections. Our report demonstrates that at least some pulmonary Italian cases of human dirofilariasis are due to , as in the New World.