Intra-ocular Hydatid Cyst.

INTRA-OCULAR parasites have been referred to as ophthalmological curiosities (Costi, 1934; Duke-Elder, 1940). Larvae of Filaria loa, Filaria bancrofti, Dracunculus medinensis, and Taenia solium have been observed only infrequently inside the eyeball. Taenia echinococcus infestation is by far the rarest of the parasitic diseases of the eye, only eleven cases having so far been reported in the literature. Three of these cases, those reported by Gescheidt (1833), Scholtz (1906), and Wood (1906), have been considered by Duke-Elder (1940) and Sverdlick (1961) to be lacking authenticity. Scholtz (1906) could not carry out any histopathological or cytological studies to confirm his clinical diagnosis since the disease had occurred in the only eye in his case. The present case adds one more to this small list and is probably the first to be reported from India.