A case of autochthonous human Dirofilaria infection, Germany, March 2014

D Tappe; M Plauth; T Bauer; B Muntau; L Dießel; E Tannich; P Herrmann-Trost

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES2014.19.17.20790

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A case of autochthonous human Dirofilaria infection, Germany, March 2014
D Tappe¹ , M Plauth² , T Bauer³ , B Muntau¹ , L Dießel⁴ , E Tannich^1,5 , P Herrmann-Trost⁴
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Affiliations: ¹ Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany ² Städtisches Klinikum Dessau, Klinik für Innere Medizin, Dessau-Roßlau, Germany ³ Mund-Kiefer-Gesichtschirurgie Halle Dessau, Dessau, Germany ⁴ Amedes MVZ für Pathologie und Zytodiagnostik Halle/Saale, Germany ⁵ German Centre for Infection Research, partner site Hamburg-Luebeck-Borstel, Hamburg, Germany

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D Tappe
tappe bnitm.de
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Citation style for this article: Tappe D, Plauth M, Bauer T, Muntau B, Dießel L, Tannich E, Herrmann-Trost P. A case of autochthonous human Dirofilaria infection, Germany, March 2014 . Euro Surveill. 2014;19(17):pii=20790. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES2014.19.17.20790 Received: 22 Apr 2014

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Abstract

In March 2014, an infection with the nematode Dirofilaria repens was diagnosed in a German citizen in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt. The patient had developed an itching subcutaneous nodule containing a female worm, which was identified as D. repens by 12S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene sequencing. Autochthonous human D. repens infections have not been described in Germany so far, but this finding is consistent with the recent detection of D. repens in mosquitoes from east Germany.