Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Calea Mănăștur 3-5, 400372, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Clinical Hospital of Infectious Diseases of Cluj-Napoca, 23 Iuliu Moldovan Street, 400348, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Vet Res Commun. 2023 Dec;47(4):2173-2177. doi: 10.1007/s11259-023-10097-y. Epub 2023 Mar 11.
Thelazia callipaeda, the zoonotic "oriental eye worm", is an emerging nematode known to infect a wide range of hosts, particularly carnivores (wild and domestic canids and felids, mustelids, and ursids), but also other mammal groups (suids, lagomorphs, monkeys, and humans), across a wide geographical area. New host-parasite associations and human cases have mostly been reported in endemic areas. A less studied group of hosts is represented by zoo animals that may harbor T. callipaeda.A 23-year old male lion (Panthera leo) that was born in a public zoo in Reșița (Caraș-Severin County, Romania) was submitted to the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca for investigations after death from unknown reasons in November 2022. Four nematodes were collected from the right eye during the necropsy and submitted to morphological and molecular characterization.Collected nematodes were morphologically identified as three females and one male T. callipaeda. The BLAST analysis revealed 100% nucleotide identity to numerous isolates of T. callipaeda haplotype 1.The present paper presents a new host-parasite association between T. callipaeda and P. leo from a zoo in Romania.
Thelazia callipaeda，即人畜共患的“东方眼虫”，是一种新兴的线虫，已知感染范围广泛的宿主，特别是食肉动物（野生和家养的犬科和猫科动物、鼬科动物和熊科动物），但也包括其他哺乳动物群体（猪科动物、兔形目动物、猴子和人类），分布在广泛的地理区域。新的宿主-寄生虫关联和人类病例主要在流行地区报告。研究较少的宿主群体是动物园动物，它们可能携带 T. callipaeda。一只 23 岁的雄性狮子（ Panthera leo ），出生于罗马尼亚雷希察的一个公共动物园，于 2022 年 11 月因不明原因死亡后被送到克卢日-纳波卡农业大学和兽医学院进行调查。在剖检过程中从右眼共采集到 4 条线虫，并进行了形态学和分子特征鉴定。收集的线虫在形态上被鉴定为 3 条雌性和 1 条雄性 T. callipaeda。BLAST 分析显示，与来自罗马尼亚动物园的 P. leo 之间存在新的宿主-寄生虫关联。
