Abstract

P 089

Early descriptions of chorioretinitis in human filariases

Kluxen G.
Ophthalmologische Gemeinschaftspraxis Wermelskirchen

Objective: Strangely enough, retinal involvement was observed for the first time in human filariases in five cases with lymphatic bancroftian filariasis that occurred on the Samoan Islands in 1910/1911. In 1932, Jean Hissette described the scarred chorioretinal fundus in onchocerciasis. Hissett's discovery was initially ascribed to Harold Ridley.
Results: Later investigators confirmed the findings in Wuchereria bancrofti filariasis in Samoans. Gerusas Dreyer (2005) could not confirm any comparable ocular involvement in more than 500 patients as being due to with lymphatic bancroftian filariasis. Similar fundus lesions also occur in Loa loa microfilariasis. A first drawing of chorioretinitis resulting from onchocerciasis in "Sudan blindness" was published in 1935 by J. Bryant, who was a specialist in tropical diseases. It was his correspondence with Hissette that alerted Bryant to the possibility of ocular onchocerciasis. In 1936, Hissette presented a water-color of his own at a colonial exhibition in Brussels. Ridley's water-color only followed in 1945, and for a long time the flecked retina was referred to simply as "Ridley fundus".
Conclusions: It should be borne in mind that solitary observations may well have been a first indication of something fundamentally important. The historical case reports may help to draw attention to matters that epidemiology may have overlooked.

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