title: Surgery still opens an unexpected bag of worms! An intraperitoneal live female Dirofilaria worm: case report and review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Intra-abdominal filarial infection is extremely rare.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case report and review of the literature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 63-year-old man presented with a painful swelling in the peri-umbilical area. An urgent laparotomy was performed for suspected strangulated peri-umbilical hernia. A live intraperitoneal worm was retrieved during the repair of the hernial sac that proved to be a female Dirofilaria immitis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Only one previous case of intraperitoneal involvement by dirofilariasis is described in the medical literature. Ours is the first case report of a live dirofilarial worm in the abdominal cavity of a human being.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, King George Hospital, Goodmayers, Essex, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Khudair Fadhil
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.forename: Siam G Abd
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: El-Monem
authors.forename: Zeeshan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.forename: Amir M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D034841:Abdominal Cavity / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000601:surgery*; D000818:Animals; D004183:Dirofilaria immitis; D004184:Dirofilariasis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged