Motile microfilaria captured by fluorescent microscopy and the unmasking of eosinophilia following treatment

A 24-year-old patient from Cameroon presented to our hospital because of a foreign structure in her left eye. To our knowledge, for the first time, fluorescent microscopy revealed motile microfilariae, and the diagnosis of loiasis was established. Despite substantial microfilaremia, eosinophilia only unmasked after the initiation of antiparasitic therapy. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Automated summary

A 24-year-old patient from Cameroon presented to our hospital with a foreign structure in her left eye. For the first time, fluorescent microscopy revealed motile microfilariae, and the diagnosis of loiasis was confirmed. Despite high levels of microfilaremia, eosinophilia only became evident after antiparasitic therapy was initiated.