BACKGROUND Dirofilaria repens and D. immitis are filarioid helminths with domestic and wild canids as main hosts and mosquitoes as vectors. Both species are known to cause zoonotic diseases, primarily pulmonary (D. immitis), ocular (D. repens), and subcutaneous (D. repens) dirofilariosis. Both D. immitis and D. repens are known as invasive species, and their distribution seems associated with c...

In March 2014, an infection with the nematode Dirofilaria repens was diagnosed in a German citizen in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt. The patient had developed an itching subcutaneous nodule containing a female worm, which was identified as D. repens by 12S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene sequencing. Autochthonous human D. repens infections have not been described in Germany so far, ...

1. One line of thinking is that highly successful plant invaders achieve dominance in recipient communities via competitive superiority over natives. In contrast, it has been proposed that exotic species attain dominance not by competitive prowess but due to their colonizing abilities after disturbance. Interestingly, there have been relatively few attempts to quantify competitive effects of in...

Dirofilaria repens, a filarial nematode of dogs and other carnivores, can accidentally infect humans. The infection occurs widely throughout Europe. We report a case of D. repens in a Danish woman who had been traveling to Crete. A nematode was visualized on examination and ELISA was positive for antibodies against D. repens.

Specimens of the knapweed nematode Subanguina picridis (Kirjanova) Brzeski obtained from different host plants were highly variable in measurement and structure. This variability refutes the validity of six Subanguina species attacking plants in the Asteraceae.