Ukraine: Dirofilariasis case reported in Melitopol

NewsDesk @bactiman63

In Melitopol, Ukraine, surgeons removed a 2-centimeter parasite from a patient’s hand. The guy went to the hospital with a seal on his arm. Turns out it had a worm in it.

“A guy came to the emergency hospital with a complaint about a neoplasm in the right shoulder area, in which the specialist noticed movement during an ultrasound examination,” the TMO reports . – The neoplasm was removed. A white parasite was found on the micropreparation.

“This disease is called dirofilariasis, and this year it is the second case in our city,” Andrey Radchenko, a surgeon at the emergency hospital, is quoted on the TMO page. – Infection occurs due to the bite of mosquitoes, which, together with the blood, carry the larval stage of helminths (microfilariae) from an infected individual.

Dirofilaria larvae migrate through the blood vessels, can get into the heart and pulmonary vessels, into the subcutaneous tissue, sometimes into the eyes or brain. 

Cases of dirofilariasis in our region are not uncommon. According to the regional center of the Ministry of Health , over 200 cases of this disease have been registered in the Zaporozhye region alone in 20 years. In 2021, the MV website talked about a Melitopol guy who had a worm in his eyelid.

Most often, mosquitoes, and of any kind, are the carriers, epidemiologists of the Ministry of Health Center note. Even those that live in flooded basements and bite a person during the cold season. The worm can grow and develop in different parts of the body. Approximately 40 per cent. sick is the organs of vision, as well as the face, head, trunk, limbs, oral cavity, mammary glands, navel, genitals and even lymph nodes.

Fortunately, subcutaneous dirofilariasis never leads to the death of a sick person, regional doctors assure. In the early stages of its development, it can move freely and painlessly under the skin or along the mucous membranes. At a later stage of development, the worm curls up into a ball, and a capsule forms around it. During this period, the disease manifests itself in the form of a small subcutaneous seal. Usually, an inflammatory process of the skin begins in this place, accompanied by swelling, itching, and local pain. Sometimes the body temperature rises. It is at this stage that patients most often seek medical help.