Unusual masquerading infraorbital mass – First case report of human ocular Dirofilariasis found in an Ukrainian patient in Switzerland

Abstract

Abstract A 78-year-old Ukrainian woman immigrated to Switzerland presented with a rapid growing subcutaneous infraorbital mass. Surgical excision of the mass revealed a well-circumscribed, encapsulated tumor, adherent to the skin. The excision showed a soft tissue inflammation with parts of helminthozoonosis diagnosed as Dirofilaria repens. The number of cases of human Dirofilariasis reported in the last 50 years has gradually increased. Dirofilaria repens is now endemic in many countries and is currently considered to be one of the fast spreading zoonoses in Central, Eastern and Northern Europe. The first empirical evidence of Swiss spreading of Dirofilaria infections was in a dog from southern Switzerland in 1998. Ours is the first case of human orbital Dirofilariasis reported in Switzerland. Our purpose is to inform the ophthalmologist to consider orbital dirofilariasis in the differential diagnosis of inflammatory masses of the orbit and to warn about the spread of this infection in Switzerland.