Zoonotic Onchocerca in a Japanese Child

Abstract

A female Onchocerca was found in histopathological sections of a nodule removed from the foot of a 2-year-old girl in southern Japan. As in previously reported cases in Switzerland, Crimea, Canada, and the USA, evident morphological features of the worm resembled those of Onchocerca gutturosa and O. cervicalis, which are known to exist in cervical ligaments of cattle and horses, respectively, in Japan and elsewhere.