The paraffin blocks were cut on the Leica microtome in order to obtain 5 μm thick tissue sections.

The worm tissue samples were fixed in 10 % buffered formalin and routinely processed to paraffin blocks. The sample was sent to the Institute of Histology and Embryology of the University of Niš, Serbia, for histological analysis. The worm was brought to the Public Health Institute of the University of Niš, Serbia, where macroscopic and microscopic analysis of the parasite´s morphometric characteristics was performed. The event took place at end of August 2020 in Eastern Serbia, in the rural settlement Vrbovac (43° 41′ 11″ N 21° 44′ 31″ E). The patient, a 73 years old man, reported seeing a hairworm whilst urinating in a container which had stayed during the day in the open air. As this specimen was found after urination, we discuss the often misinterpreted association with gordiids and humans.

We report here a new record of a Spinochordodes bacescui ( Căpuşe, 1965).

People with certain health complaints may assume that they have expelled the worms from their own body, which theyīring to their doctor’s office for the confirmation that the worm has been the cause of their complaints. The reported cases were reviewed by Schmidt-Rhaesa (Schmidt-Rhaesa, 2013), who came to the conclusion that, with the exception of very few unexplained cases, there was no true parasitism and the association between humans and gordiids was accidental. Apart from this life cycle, gordiids were several times found close to humans, raising the questions whether they are able to parasitize humans and whether they are dangerous to humans. There the gordiid worm emerges its reproduction and early larval development take place in freshwater. In freshwater/terrestrial species (taxon Gordiida), which make up most of Nematomorpha, most species parasitize terrestrial hosts such as crickets, beetles or praying mantids and influence their behavior to move towards water ( Thomas et al., 2002). Horsehair worms (Nematomorpha) have a life cycle which consists of a parasitic and a free-living phase ( Hanelt et al., 2005).

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