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J Pediatr Infect Dis 2013; 08(04): 187-190
DOI: 10.3233/JPI-130403
Case Report
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart – New York

The first autochthonous infection with Dirofilaria repens in a child in Poland

Katarzyna Mazur-Melewska
a   Department of Infectious Diseases and Child Neurology Karol Marcinkowski, University of Medical Sciences in Poznań, Poznań, Poland
,
Magdalena Figlerowicz
a   Department of Infectious Diseases and Child Neurology Karol Marcinkowski, University of Medical Sciences in Poznań, Poznań, Poland
c   The President Stanislaw Wojciechowski Higher Vocational State School in Kalisz, Kalisz, Poland
,
Aleksander Masny
b   Department of Medical Parasitology, National Institute of Public Health – National Institute of Hygiene, Warszawa, Poland
,
Danuta Cielecka
b   Department of Medical Parasitology, National Institute of Public Health – National Institute of Hygiene, Warszawa, Poland
,
Anna Mania
a   Department of Infectious Diseases and Child Neurology Karol Marcinkowski, University of Medical Sciences in Poznań, Poznań, Poland
,
Ewa Trejster
d   Department of Patomorphology Karol Jonscher Hospital in Poznań, Poznań, Poland
,
Paweł Kemnitz
a   Department of Infectious Diseases and Child Neurology Karol Marcinkowski, University of Medical Sciences in Poznań, Poznań, Poland
,
Wojciech Służewski
a   Department of Infectious Diseases and Child Neurology Karol Marcinkowski, University of Medical Sciences in Poznań, Poznań, Poland
› Author Affiliations
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Further Information

Publication History

18 May 2013

20 August 2013

Publication Date:
28 July 2015 (online)

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Abstract

Dirofilaria (Nematoda: Onchocercidae) infections are vector-borne parasitic diseases of wild and domestic carnivores, mainly of dogs and cats. In Europe, mainly in Ukraine and the Mediterranean countries, they are caused by D. repens and D. immitis.

The aim of our work is to describe the first autochthonous pediatric case of Dirofilaria repens infection in Poland. Our patient is the first one in the western part of Poland (52°24’N16°56’E). The diagnosis of the parasite’s species and the histopathological assessment of the altered tissue were based on the scrutiny of paraffin slides of the surgically removed subcutaneous nodule. The results were confirmed using PCR method. The origin of the boy’s infection in Greater Poland remains unresolved.

The new trend of spreading D. repens infection in many non-endemic countries cause that dirofilariosis should be included in the differential diagnosis of subcutaneous nodules in children, in the whole Europe, not only in endemic areas.

Keywords

Dirofilaria repens - child - autochthonous infection