The first genetically confirmed case of Dioctophyme renale (Nematoda: Dioctophymatida) in a patient with a subcutaneous nodule.

Abstract: We describe a nematode larva in a subcutaneous nodule excised from a 44-year-old Chinese male who had been living in Japan for 15years. Morphological features suggested that the worm was a dioctophimatid nematode. PCR amplification and sequencing of small subunit ribosomal DNA and mitochondrial cytochrome subunit c oxidase genes allowed us to identify the larva as the giant kidney worm, Dioctophyme renale (Goeze, 1972). This is the first molecularly confirmed human case of a dermal D. renale infection. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]