Ophtalmic dirofilariasis

To report a case of orbital dirofilariasis from a patient in Abadan city Southwest Iran.
Case report: A 54- year- old woman referred to Abadan oil company hospital, Southwest Iran with the symptoms of tearing, irritation, swelling, and itching of the right eye. In ophthalmoscopy, a live worm was observed in sub- conjunctival space. The worm was removed and sent to the laboratory. The worm was white in color with a length of 105 mm. Based on morphological characterization identified as Dirofilaria repns. We found that vitamin D3 suppresses the mRNA expression of TLR2 and TLR4 in patients with type II diabetes. TLR2 and TLR4 expression in the patients exposed to vitamin D3 were significantly decreased in comparison with patients who were not treated with vitamin D3.
This is the second report of ocular dirofilarisis from Southwestern tropical region of Iran. Increasing of human dirofilariasis may be attributed to environmental changes with global warming, humidity and increase of mosquito vectors and breeding, agricultural development and change in social conditions, traveling and outdoor living.