Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Doxycycline and ivermectin effects on heartworm bacteria in dogs
By Menozzi, A et al.·Published in Veterinary parasitology·2015·Dip Scienze Medico-Veterinarie, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Doxycycline levels and anti-Wolbachia antibodies in sera from dogs experimentally infected with Dirofilaria immitis and treated with a combination of ivermectin/doxycycline.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs infected with heartworms (Dirofilaria immitis) were treated with a combination of two medications: ivermectin and doxycycline. Researchers found that this combination was effective in lowering the levels of a bacteria called Wolbachia, which is associated with heartworm infections. The dogs showed a significant decrease in the immune response to this bacteria compared to untreated dogs. While the exact levels of doxycycline were similar whether given alone or with ivermectin, the combination treatment was noted to be very effective in killing adult heartworms.
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Abstract
Sera from Dirofilaria immitis-experimentally infected dogs treated with a combination of ivermectin/doxycycline were analysed for doxycycline levels by HPLC and anti-Wolbachia Surface Protein (rWSP) antibodies by ELISA and compared with sera from dogs treated with doxycycline alone. Results show that doxycycline levels were not statistically different between the two groups. Circulating anti-WSP antibody titres were markedly lower in both treatment groups when compared to control D. immitis infected dogs, indicating that doxycycline is able to reduce Wolbachia and prevent the immune response against the bacteria. The combination treatment protocol has been shown to be highly adulticidal and further studies are needed to better understand the interaction between doxycycline and ivermectin in D. immitis infected dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25769472/