Dracunculiasis of the orbit and eyelid. Light and electron microscopic observations of two cases.

Dracunculiasis, an infection caused by the nematode parasite, Dracunculus medinensis, usually affects the skin and subcutaneous tissue. The authors studied two cases of dracunculiasis involving the orbit and eyelid in African children. In the first case, the patient presented with proptosis and the clinical diagnosis was Burkitt's lymphoma. In the second patient, the eyelid lesion was diagnosed as a dermoid cyst. Histopathologically, the orbital lesion showed a degenerated and partially calcified worm within a large intraconal abscess. The eyelid lesion contained a well-preserved gravid female worm filled with larvae. The results of transmission and scanning electron microscopic studies are discussed.