A case of ocular angiostrongyliasis with molecular identification of the species in Vietnam

Abstract

A 23-year-old female residing in a village of Cao Bang Province, North Vietnam, visited the Hospital of Hanoi Medical University in July 2013. She felt dim eyes and a bulge-sticking pain in her left eye for some days before visiting the hospital. In the hospital, a clinical examination, an eye endoscopy, and an operation were carried out. A nematode specimen was collected from the eye of this patient. The body of this worm was thin and long and measured 22.0 × 0.3 mm. It was morphologically suggested as an immature female worm of Angiostrongylus cantonensis. By a molecular method using 18S rRNA gene, this nematode was confirmed as A. cantonensis. This is the first molecular study for identification of A. cantonensis in Vietnam.