title: Filarial infection caused by Onchocerca boehmi (Supperer, 1953) in a horse from Italy.
abstract: Equids can be infected by a range of skin-dwelling filarial nematodes, including four species of the genus Onchocerca. Current literature on equine onchocercosis is fragmentary and often limited to isolated case reports. The present study aimed to describe a clinical case of equine onchocercosis caused by Onchocerca boehmi (Supperer, 1953) (syn. Elaeophora boehmi) in an 8-year-old gelding Belgian show jumper from northern Italy. The horse was presented with a firm and painless mass on the proximal third of the right metacarpal region. Ultrasound examination showed a peritendinous enlargement around the palmaro-lateral area of the tendons, characterized by an elongated hypoechoic and well-defined structure, embedding a coiled hyperechoic line. The metacarpal nodule was resected and histologically examined. Fragments of a parasitic nematode were detected, isolated and examined. The morphological analysis allowed identifying the nematode as O. boehmi. In addition, total genomic DNA was extracted from individual fragments using a commercial kit for the nematode identification and a comparative sequence analysis of the nematode cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) sequence with data available in the GenBankTMdatabase revealed the closest identity (i.e. 91 %) with that of Onchocerca lupi. Thus far, O. boehmi has only been reported in Austria and Iran, and information about its life-cycle and vectors is lacking. The systematic position of this species within the genus Onchocerca, not in Elaeophora where it was originally described, is in concordance with the morphological and molecular analysis. In this article, we describe the first autochthonous case of equine onchocercosis in Italy caused by O. boehmi and discuss novel parasitological, clinical, and pathological data on these pathogens of horses.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Valenzano, Bari, Italy. riccardopaolo.lia@uniba.it.
authors.forename: Riccardo Paolo
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Lia
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Valenzano, Bari, Italy.|Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Yasen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mutafchiev
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria e Produzioni Animali, Università di Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Veneziano
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giannelli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abramo
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno, Portici, Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santoro
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Stefania
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Latrofa
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cantacessi
authors.affiliation: UMR7245, MCAM, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Coralie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Otranto
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie, Università degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bertuglia
authors.affiliation: Veterinary practitioner, Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Riccio
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004285:Dogs; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology; D006736:Horses; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D009854:Onchocerca / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D009855:Onchocerciasis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D012867:Skin / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D015801:Helminth Proteins; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV
keywords: Equine onchocercosis; Histology; Horse; Limb nodules; Onchocerca boehmi; Ultrasound