A case of autochthonous human dirofilaria infection, Germany, March 2014

Abstract

In March 2014, an infection with the nematode Dirofilaria repens was diagnosed in a German citizen in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt. The patient had developed an itching subcutaneous nodule containing a female worm, which was identified as D. repens by 12S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene sequencing. Autochthonous human D. repens infections have not been described in Germany so far, but this finding is consistent with the recent detection of D. repens in mosquitoes from east Germany.