AN AUTOCHTHONOUS CASE OF FELINE THELAZIOSIS IN NORTH MACEDONIA

Abstract

Background. The Oriental eye worm, Thelazia callipaeda (Spirurida: Thelaziidae) is a zoonotic nematode vectored by lacrimophagous drosophilid flies of the genus Phortica. The primary hosts are the wild and domestic canids, with natural infections reported in felids, mustelids, and lagomorphs. Domestic dogs and cats are the most important reservoirs of T. callipaeda for human infections, although cats are not considered as a typical host because of their cleaning habits. Material and Methods. Two whitish, filiform parasites were collected from the right eye of a stray cat that was referred to the University Veterinary Hospital at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Skopje in May 2021 with unilateral conjunctivitis and epiphora. After local anesthesia, the parasites were removed, washed in physiological saline solution, fixed in 70% ethanol and sent to the Laboratory for parasitology and parasitic diseases at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Skopje for morphological identification. The parasites were identified by the position of the vulva in females (located in the anterior half of the body and anteriorly to the oesophageal-intestinal junction), and by the number and position of postcloacal papillae (5 pairs on the ventral surface of the body) and spicule shape and size in males (unequal spicules). Results. The parasites (1 male and 1 female) were identified as T. callipaeda. The female was 1.52 cm long with body width of 410 μm, and the male was 1.09 cm long with body width of 380 μm. Conclusion. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of T. callipaeda infection in a cat in North Macedonia. The finding indicates that there is a transmission cycle of T. callipaeda and that practitioners should include the Oriental eye worm infection amongst the differential diagnosis of ocular diseases in cats.