Thelazia callipaeda (Railliet and Henry, 1910) Case in a Dog: First Record in Turkey

Abstract

A 2.5 years old male Golden Retriever breed dog with the itching, runny eyes, and continuous unease complaints was brought to a private veterinary medical centre in the Thrace region of Turkey, in September 2017. It was observed that there was a purulent conjunctivitis in the left eye and there was a mobile structure under the membrane nictitans after the examination. A drop of local anesthetic was dripped into the eye, and the mobile structure was removed with the help of a forceps. This removed structure was taken into the solution of 70% alcohol on suspicion of parasite. Both the extracted material and the blood samples were sent to the Department of Internal Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine for evaluation and it was evaluated with parasitologist. The parasite was cleared by taken into a 0.9% physiological saline and kept in the lactophenol for two days for transparency. Then, the transparent parasite was determined as Thelazia callipaeda after microscopic examination. The ocular form of thelaziasis caused by T. callipaeda in a dog has been reported for the first time in Turkey with this case report. By this report, first case of ocular thelaziasis reported seen a dog in Turkey and it was aimed to point out that this parasite can lead to significant eye problems in animals.