Rapid communications A case of autochthonous human Dirofilaria infection, Germany, March 2014 D Tappe (
[email protected])1, M Plauth2, T Bauer3, B Muntau1, L Dießel4, E Tannich1,5, P Herrmann-Trost4 1. Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany 2. Städtisches Klinikum Dessau, Klinik für Innere Medizin, Dessau-Roßlau, Germany 3. Mund-Kiefer-Gesichtschirurgie Halle Dessau, Dessau, Germany 4. Amedes MVZ für Pathologie und Zytodiagnostik Halle/Saale, Germany 5. German Centre for Infection Research, partner site Hamburg-Luebeck-Borstel, Hamburg, Germany Citation style for this article: Tappe D, Plauth M, Bauer T, Muntau B, Dießel L, Tannich E, Herrmann-Trost P. A case of autochthonous human Dirofilaria infection, Germany, March 2014 . Euro Surveill. 2014;19(17):pii=20790. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20790 Article submitted on 22 April 2014 / published on 01 May 2014 In March 2014, an infection with the nematode A nematode-specific 12S ribosomal ribonucleic acid Dirofilaria repens was diagnosed in a German citizen (rRNA) gene-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) [1] from in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt. The patient had the formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimen was developed an itching subcutaneous nodule containing positive. Sequence analysis of the 510 bp amplicon a female worm, which was identified as D. repens by (www. http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), revealed 99% 12S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene sequenc- similarity with D. repens sequences isolated in Turkey ing. Autochthonous human D. repens infections have and Italy (GenBank accession numbers: KC953031, and not been described in Germany so far, but this finding AJ544832, AM779773, respectively).