Incidence of Dirofilaria Immitis (Leidy) in Client Owned Dogs from the Greater Metropolitan Manila Area of Luzon Island in The Philippines

Serum samples were collected from each of 290 healthy dogs 6 months of age or older living in the Greater Metropolitan Manila (GMM) area over a 12 month period. These samples were examined by the Synbiotics DiroChek ® antigen capture test (San Diego, CA) for evidence of Dirofilaria immitis circulating antigen. At the time of the first sample 220 out of 290 examined were negative by the DiroChek test. Twelve months later 175 of the original 220 uninfected dogs were still uninfected. This is an incidence rate of 20%. This is the first incidence study on client owned dogs reported for D. immitis and illustrates that owners will participate in such studies which are essential if canine populations are to be monitored to evaluate the effect of control efforts.