Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dirofilaria parasite found in 3 of 44 hunting dogs in Germany
By Pantchev, Nikola et al.·Published in Parasitology research·2009·Vet Med Labor GmbH, Germany·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Current surveys on the prevalence and distribution of Dirofilaria spp. in dogs in Germany.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 44 hunting dogs in Germany were tested for Dirofilaria, a type of parasite spread by mosquitoes, and 3 of them were found to have Dirofilaria repens, which can cause skin issues. None of the dogs had traveled, suggesting local transmission is possible in this warm region. The tests also showed a high rate of exposure to another infection called Anaplasma, but no heartworm was detected in any of the dogs tested. This highlights the importance of monitoring for mosquito-borne diseases in local pets.
People also search for: dog skin problems Dirofilaria · mosquito-borne diseases in dogs · hunting dog health tests
Abstract
The Central Upper-Rhine (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) is one of the warmest regions in Germany and also harbours abundant numbers of mosquitoes. Case reports on presumably autochthonous occurrence of Dirofilaria spp. were reported previously and were a reason for a further investigation into the occurrence of vector-borne pathogens. For this purpose, 44 hunting dogs from the Central Upper-Rhine region were tested between 4(th) and 29(th) June 2007. The blood samples were tested using the Knott's test and IDEXX SNAP 4Dx test. The Knott's test revealed unsheathed microfilaria identified as Dirofilaria repens by PCR in 3 dogs with no history of travelling (6.8%; 95% CI: 2.4-18.2%). The seroprevalence for Anaplasma phagocytophilum was 43.2% (95% CI: 29.7-57.8%), but only 4.5% (95% CI: 1.3-15.1%) for antibodies to Borrelia C6 peptide. Dirofilaria immitis antigen was not detected in any of the samples. A further 288 blood samples from non-hunting companion dogs of the Central Upper-Rhine region were tested negative for heartworm antigen between February and August 2007.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19575227/