title: Periorbital dirofilariasis.
abstract: A differential diagnosis of inflammatory periocular soft tissue masses includes sarcoidosis, ruptured dermoid cyst, infectious abscess, metastatic neoplastic disease, and idiopathic pseudotumor. The authors present the case of a 42-year-old woman with a periocular inflammatory mass caused by dirofilaria of a nematode classification as Dirofilaria tenuis. The extraction of the worm was curative and the patient has been symptom-free for the ensuing 12 months. This zoonotic infection, spread by mosquito vectors from animal hosts to humans, is rarely encountered in the United States as a cause of periorbital inflammation. A history of migratory swelling and residence in, or travel to, endemic areas (the southeastern United States) should suggest the possibility of Dirofilaria infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Ohio.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Kersten
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Locastro
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Eberhard
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Spaulding
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Kulwin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D004182:Dirofilaria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004184:Dirofilariasis / Q000175:diagnosis; D015822:Eye Infections, Parasitic / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009916:Orbital Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000469:parasitology*