Ocular parastrongyliasis (=angiostrongyliasis): probable first report of human infection from a patient in Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

What is considered to be the first case of human parastrongyliasis (angiostrongyliasis) worldwide is described from a patient in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1925. It also predates the description of the parasite in humans by Chen (1935).

Third report of ocular parastrongyliasis (angiostrongyliasis) from Sri Lanka.

A further case of ocular parastrongyliasis has been seen in a patient from Sri Lanka. As it is a juvenile female worm it could not be identified to the species, but it is probably Parastrongylus (= Angiostrongylus) cantonensis which is the commonly reported species in the country. This is the third authentic case of such an infection in Sri Lanka in recent years.

Recovery of a species of Brugia, probably B. ceylonensis, from the conjunctiva of a patient in Sri Lanka.

A species of Brugia, probably B. ceylonensis, was recovered from the conjunctiva of a patient in Sri Lanka for the first time. This infection represents only the second record of Brugia in the human conjunctiva, and is clearly zoonotic, acquired from a dog.

Rhinosporidiosis presenting with two soft tissue tumors followed by dissemination.

Rhinosporidiosis is caused by Rhinosporidium seeberi. Most mycologists believe that R. seeberi is either a Chytridium related to the Olpidiaceae (order Chytridialis, class Chytridiomycetes) or a Synchytrium.

Human dirofilariasis caused by Dirofilaria (Nochtiella) repens in Sri Lanka.

Human dirofilariasis due to Dirofilaria (Nochtiella) repens is a common zoonotic infection in Sri Lanka. Todate 70 cases are on record, and they include 3 expatriates from Russia, England and Korea, who were undoubtedly infected in Sri Lanka. Around 30-60% of dogs are infected with D.

Efficacy of single dose combinations of albendazole, ivermectin and diethylcarbamazine for the treatment of bancroftian filariasis.

In a 'blind' trial on 50 male asymptomatic microfilaraemic subjects with Wuchereria bancrofti infection, the safety, tolerability and filaricidal efficacy of a single dose of albendazole (alb) 600 mg alone or in combination with ivermectin (iver) 400 micrograms/kg or diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) 6 mg/kg was compared with a single dose of the combination DEC 6 mg/kg and iver 400 micrograms/kg over a period of 15 months after treatment. All but one subject, with 67 microfilariae (mf)/mL, had pre-treatment counts > 100 mf/mL. All 4 treatments significantly reduced mf counts, but alb/iver was the most effective regimen for clearing mf from night blood: 9 of 13 subjects (69%) were amicrofilaraemic by membrane filtration 15 months after treatment compared to one of 12 (8%), 3 of 11 (27%), and 3 of 10 (30%) in the groups treated with alb, alb/DEC, and DEC/iver, respectively.

First reports of subcutaneous sparganosis in Sri Lanka.

Objective: To report and create awareness of sparganosis, a parasitic zoonosis caused by a larval stage of Spirometra sp.

Setting: Two patients with non-tender subcutaneous lumps. DIAGNOSIS CRITERIA: Morphology of solid cestode larva in excision biopsies.

Prolonged clearance of microfilaraemia in patients with bancroftian filariasis after multiple high doses of ivermectin or diethylcarbamazine.

In a double-blind trial on 37 asymptomatic microfilaraemic subjects (minimum 400 microfilariae [mf] per mL) with Wuchereria bancrofti infection, the safety, tolerability and macrofilaricidal efficacy of 12 fortnightly doses of ivermectin, 400 micrograms/kg (ivermectin group), was compared with 12 fortnightly doses of diethylcarbamazine (DEC), 10 mg/kg (DEC group), over a period of 129 weeks after treatment. A control group (LDIC group) was treated with low dose ivermectin to clear microfilaraemia, for ethical reasons. Both ivermectin and DEC in high multiple doses were well tolerated and clinically safe.

On an infection of a human eye with Parastrongylus (= Angiostrongylus) sp. in Sri Lanka.

A metastrongyle worm extracted from the anterior chamber of the right eye of a patient in Sri Lanka belongs to the genus Parastrongylus and probably to a yet undescribed species, related to P. cantonensis well known to infect man. It is mostly a parasite of rodents, wandering in man and unadapted to this host.

Filariasis in Ceylon then (1961) and in Sri Lanka now (1990-30 years on).

The changes in the prevalence and distribution of bancroftian filariasis in Ceylon/Sri Lanka since Professor Kershaw's visit in 1961 show that the infection has spread over a wider area, although the microfilaria rates have decreased. New information is available on the vector, Culex quinquefasciatus, and more details are available on the animal filariae and their vectors. Dirofilaria repens infection of dogs is now a proven zoonosis in the country.

[Morphology of adult and sub-adult Wuchereria bancrofti. Differential characteristics among the strains].

The description of the fourth stage larva of W. bancrofti provides an indication of the direction of morphological evolution in the genus showing in particular that W. kalimantani is more highly evolved than W.