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Neuroinvasive Onchocerca lupi Infection in a Ten-Year-Old Girl

2022; Hindawi Publishing Corporation; Volume: 2022; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1155/2022/9773058

2090-6625

Dorothy Bowers Wu, Brandon Ko, Gloria Lopez Hernandez, James Botros, Heather Spader, Sarah G. H. Sapp, Yvonne Qvarnström, Christopher D. Paddock, Paul T. Cantey, Walter Dehority,

Mosquito-borne diseases and control

The nematode Onchocerca lupi is an emerging human pathogen. Though its life cycle is not well studied, it likely infects humans after a bite from a black fly vector, which in turn acquires infective microfilariae from an infected canid. These microfilariae mature into an infective larval stage within the fly. Among six reported cases in the United States, five involved children, and all occurred in the southwest. In this report, we present a case of O. lupi infection with cervical spine invasion in a healthy 10-year-old girl. She presented with five months of neurological symptoms from a rural and medically underserved area, highlighting a need for clinical vigilance in such settings for this emerging infectious threat in the American southwest.