ZoonoticOnchocerca lupiInfection in Dogs, Greece and Portugal, 2011–2012 (original) (raw)

2013, Emerging Infectious Diseases

Onchocerca lupi infection is reported primarily in symptomatic dogs. We aimed to determine the infection in dogs from areas of Greece and Portugal with reported cases. Of 107 dogs, 9 (8%) were skin snip-positive for the parasite. DNA sequences of parasites in specimens from distinct dog populations differed genetically from those in GenBank. Z oonotic onchocercosis has been attributed to species that primarily infest cattle (Onchocerca gutturosa), horses (O. cervicalis), the European deer (O. jakutensis), and wild boars (O. dewittei japonica) (1). In their definitive hosts, all these species localize in subcutaneous tissues, muscular fasciae, or cervical ligaments, whereas in humans, O. gutturosa and O. cervicalis also have an ocular localization (reviewed in 2). O. lupi is a recently recognized parasite causing nodular lesions associated with ocular disease (i.e., conjunctivitis, ocular swelling, photophobia, lacrimation, discharge, exophthalmia) in dogs (3). The zoonotic potential of this filarioid has been suspected (4) but has only recently been demonstrated in a patient from Turkey (5). Ocular cases in humans are increasingly being reported worldwide, including in Iran (6), Turkey, and Tunisia (7). In addition, O. lupi infection was recently diagnosed near the spinal canal in a 22-monthold child from Arizona, USA (2). Since its first description in a Caucasian wolf (Canis lupus) from Georgia in 1967 (8), O. lupi remained almost