Focus: Zoonotic Disease: Zoonotic Ocular Onchocercosis by Onchocerca
lupi |
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| Authors: | Alicia Rojas Fernando Morales-Calvo Harold Salant Domenico Otranto Gad Baneth |
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| Institution: | aLaboratory of Helminthology, Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica;bKoret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel;cParasitology Unit, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Valenzano, Italy;dFaculty of Veterinary Sciences, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran |
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| Abstract: | The parasitic filarioid Onchocerca lupi causes ocular disease characterized by conjunctivitis and nodular lesions. This nematode was first described in 1967 in a wolf from Georgia, and since then cases of infection from dogs and cats with ocular onchocercosis and sporadically from humans also with subcutaneous and cervical lesions caused by O. lupi have been reported from the Middle East, Europe, and North America. Due to its zoonotic potential, this parasitic infection has gained attention in the past 20 years. Phylogenetic studies have highlighted the recent divergence of O. lupi from other Onchocerca spp. and the importance of domestication in the evolutionary history of this worm. Moreover, the finding of an O. lupi genotype associated with subclinical and mild infection in the Iberian Peninsula, raises important questions about the pathogenicity of this presently enigmatic parasite. |
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| Keywords: | canine ocular onchocercosis helminthiasis Onchocerca lupi zoonosis |
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