• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.15-19
• /
• 2018

A three-year-old male Thoroughbred horse with corneal opacity in his left eye was donated to Chonbuk National University for anatomical study. Upon gross observation, two whitish parasites were moving swiftly within the vitreous chamber of the eyeball. The worms obtained from the eye after anatomical dissection were identified as Setaria digitata by morphological observation with light and scanning electron microscopes; one male (43 mm in length) and one female (55 mm) were found. This aberrant ocular infection by S. digitata is the first case reported in horses in Korea.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.667-671
• /
• 2017

Ocular setariases of cattle were reported but those of equine hosts have never been reported in the Republic of Korea (Korea). We found motile worms in the aqueous humor of 15 horses (Equus spp.) from 12 localities in southern parts of Korea between January 2004 and November 2017. After the affected animals were properly restrained under sedation and local anesthesia, 10 ml disposable syringe with a 16-gauge needle was inserted into the anterior chamber of the affected eye to successfully remove the parasites. The male worm that was found in 7 of the cases showed a pair of lateral appendages near the posterior terminal end of the body. The papillar arrangement was 3 pairs of precloacal, a pair of adcloacal, and 3 pairs of postcloacal papillae, plus a central papilla just in front of the cloaca. The female worms found in the eyes of 8 horses were characterized by the tapering posterior terminal end of the body with a smooth knob. Worms were all identified as Setaria digitata (von Linstow, 1906) by the morphologic characteristics using light and electron microscopic observations. This is the first blindness cases of 15 horses infected with S. digitata (Nematoda: Filarioidea) in Korea.