Korean J Parasitol.  2020 Oct;58(5):577-581. 10.3347/kjp.2020.58.5.577.

Ocular Sparganosis: The First Report of Spirometra ranarum in Thailand

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
  • 2Department of Parasitology, Parasite Research Center and Parasite Resource Bank, Chungbuk National University School of Medicine, Cheongju 28644, Korea
  • 3Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
  • 4Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
  • 5Mettapracharak Eye Centre, Mettapracharak (Wat Raikhing) Hospital, Nakhon Pathom 73210, Thailand

Abstract

A 22-year-old Thai man from the Northeast region presented with acute eye swelling, itching, and discharge on his left eye. He was suspected of having gnathostomiasis and treated with albendazole and prednisolone for 3 weeks. Nine months later, he was treated with high-dose oral prednisolone for the preliminary and differential diagnoses with thyroid-associated orbitopathy and lymphoma. He had been administered prednisolone intermittently over a few years. Then he developed a painless movable mass at the left upper eyelid and recurrent pseudotumor oculi was suspected. The surgical removal of the mass was performed. A white pseudosegmented worm revealed a definite diagnosis of ocular sparganosis by a plerocercoid larva. Molecular diagnosis of the causative species was made based on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene. Proper technique of extraction and amplification of short fragments DNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue successfully identified parasite species. The result from the sequencing of the PCR-amplified cox1 fragments in this study showed 99.0% sequence homology to Spirometra ranarum. This is the first report of S. ranarum in Thailand.

Keyword

Ocular sparganosis; Thailand
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