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Occurrence of gravid Loa loa in subconjunctival space of man: a case report from West Bengal, India

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Abstract

Loa loa a benign filarial eye worm is endemic in tropical rain forests areas of west and central Africa. Reports of its sporadic recovery from India are available mostly from the travellers and miogrants. This is the fifth report from India in 100 years. One 10.5 cm long gravid female eye worm Loa loa was recovered from the subconjunctival area of a 50 year old Indian lady with history of trekking in swamp areas in the Himalayas in Kumayun district. She was suffering from recurrent attacks of swelling, pain and redness of right eye and fleeting itchy rashes all over the body. Slit lamp examination revealed an indistinct coiled structure in the sub conjunctival space. Through a small nick, the structure was pulled out and was found to be a live worm which was identified as a gravid female species of Loa loa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, District Hospital, Howrah, West Bengal, India

    Debasish Mandal & Dipankar Roy

  2. P-29, Motijheel Avenue, Kolkata, 700074, India

    Debasish Mandal

  3. Department of Microbiology, School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, India

    D. K. Bera

  4. Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata, 700019, India

    Buddhadeb Manna

Authors
  1. Debasish Mandal
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  2. Dipankar Roy
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  3. D. K. Bera
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  4. Buddhadeb Manna
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Correspondence to Buddhadeb Manna.

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Mandal, D., Roy, D., Bera, D.K. et al. Occurrence of gravid Loa loa in subconjunctival space of man: a case report from West Bengal, India. J Parasit Dis 37, 52–55 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-012-0130-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-012-0130-3

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