Ophthalmic Parasitosis: A Review Article

Table 4

Ocular parasitosis caused by round worms (diagnosis and treatment).

Disease/Infection	Diagnosis	Treatment
Angiostrongyliasis	Identification of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in the eye; Direct and indirect immunofluorescent	Oral and topical prednisolone, laser treatment, surgical removal of the parasite
Bancroftian and Brugian filariasis	An aqueous tap and a peripheral blood smear isolate microfilariae or adult worm	Carbamazine citrate along with systemic steroids
Baylisascariasis	Exclusion of other known causes of OLM*	Steroids and antihelminthic agents
Dirofilariasis	Excision biopsy	Surgical excision of the adult worm, DEC*
Loiasis	Extraction of adult worm or microfilaria	Manual removal of adult worm or microfilaria present in the conjunctiva and DEC
Onchocerciasis	Slit lamp, sclerocorneal punch biopsy, Xenodiagnosis	Manual removal of adult worms, ivermectin or mebendazole
Thelaziasis	Eggs or larvae can be seen when tears or other eye secretions are examined under light microscope	Surgical
Toxocariasis	Serology	Cryopexy and photocoagulation, albendazole and corticosteroid
Trichinosis	Muscle biopsy	Thiabendazole, mebandazole, steroids

∗OLM: ocular larva migrans.
∗DEC: diethylcarbamazine.