Zoonotic filaria in a subcutaneous artery of a child in Costa Rica.
A 2-year-old boy from a rural community of Costa Rica was admitted to hospital with a rash of increasing severity over an area of the flank about 8 cm in diameter. Sections of a biopsy from the center of the affected area revealed a necrotic mature, infertile, female filaria about 120 microns in diameter in a subcutaneous artery, surrounded by a layer of dense eosinophilic granulomatous reaction which at one point, along with the worm, extended into the dermis. The worm, readily distinguished from Dirofilaria, Onchocerca, Wuchereria and Brugia, was unidentified.
D001158:Arteries / Q000469:parasitology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003364:Costa Rica; D005260:Female; D005368:Filariasis / Q000469:parasitology*; D005370:Filarioidea / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012867:Skin / Q000098:blood supply*