Introduction. Human dirofilariasis is a zoonotic disease caused by
Dirofilaria repens and Dirofilaria immitis. It usually presents as a nodular
lesion in the lung, subcutaneous tissues or eyes. In animals, dirofilariasis
is a very common disease with serious cardiovascular and respiratory
manifestations. If adequate therapy is not given at the beginning of the
disease, dirofilariasis can lead to animal death. On the contrary, human
dirofilariasis is frequently mild, sporadic and asymptomatic disease.
Complications in humans are very rare. In Europe, human dirofilariasis is a
very rare zoonotic disease even in endemic areas such as Italy, Spain and the
Mediterranean. Case report. The authors reported the case of a 43-year-old
male with a subcutaneous nodule caused by Dirofilaria repens. The patient who
lives in Budva, Montenegro, had a nodule in the right-hand side of the
anterior abdominal wall just below the sternum with maximum diameter of 3 cm.
His health condition was good and all laboratory analyses were normal. The
lesion was surgically removed and the histopathological examination confirmed
the parasitic infection by Dirofilaria repens. After surgical excision, the
patient was treated with dual antimicrobial therapy (100 mg doxycycline per
os twice a day for 28 days and 200 mg albendazole per os twice a day for 10
days). Conclusion. It is very difficult to make the diagnosis of a
subcutaneous nodule. The difficulties arise in the differential diagnosis
because subcutaneous nodules are suspected to be malignant neoplasm or other
pathologies such as tuberculosis, fungal infections, sebaceous cysts,
hamartomas, abscesses, and so on. Although human dirofilariasis is a rare
disease, the number of reported cases has recently been increasing worldwide.
Dirofilariasis in humans presenting as a subcutaneous nodule
