Dirofilaria immitis is the causative agent of heartworm disease in canines and felines, and pulmonary dirofilariasis in man. It harbors a symbiotic intracellular bacterium from the genus Wolbachia that plays an important role in its biology and contributes to the inflammatory pathology of the heartworm. This endosymbiont is sensitive to the tetracycline family of antibiotics prompting its use i...

BACKGROUND Dirofilaria immitis, a filarial nematode, is the most important parasite-affecting dogs, causing cardiopulmonary dirofilariasis. Current diagnostic tools for detecting D. immitis include morphological assays, antigen detection, and X-ray. Herein, we developed a method for the molecular detection of D. immitis in blood using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). METHODS The study was con...

This study establishes a relationship between positive canine heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) test results frequently observed in California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and infection with the filarid nematode Acanthocheilonema odendhali. Four commercially available canine heartworm antigen tests were evaluated for cross-reaction with A. odendhali in California sea lions. Sera were tested...

A real-time fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) PCR supplemented with melting curve analysis for the rapid molecular detection of Dirofilaria immitis in mosquito vectors and dog blood samples was developed. This real-time FRET PCR was based on the fluorescence melting curve analysis of a hybrid between an amplicon generated from the D. immitis ribosomal RNA gene sequence and specific ...

The intestines and hearts of dogs were examined for Toxocara canis, Toxascaris leonina, and Dirofilaria immitis, after necropsy between June 26 and September 29, 2004 in Chuncheon, Korea. Of the 662 dogs examined, 6 were infected with T. canis (0.9%), 86 with T. leonina (13.0%). Fifty dogs were infected with D. immitis among 500 dogs examined (10.0%). Five were co-infected with T. canis and T. ...

Changes in the seroprevalence of Dirofilaria immitis infection among shelter dogs between a decade ago and the present were evaluated. Serum samples were collected from 200 adult dogs in urban and suburban areas in Tokyo, Japan, during two 2-year periods (April 1999 to March 2001 and April 2009 to March 2011). Sera were tested for the presence of D. immitis antigen using a specific commercializ...

The occurrence of Dirofilaria immitis in gray fox (Urocyon cineroargenteus) was determined by gross examination, blood samples, and filtered tissue sediments in a sampling of 149 gray foxes taken from Alabama and Georgia during the 1977-78 trapping season. Microfilariae were not found in blood samples obtained from 24 of these gray foxes. Three of 82 male foxes (3.7%) and 1 of 67 female foxes (...

The relative suitability of two colonies established from local strains of Aedes albopictus (Wilmington and Rockingham) and a local (Raleigh) and laboratory (Liverpool) strain of Ae. aegypti to support development of Dirofilaria immitis was investigated. High levels of mortality occurred 1-2 days after mosquitoes fed on a heavily microfilaremic (28,617 microfilariae/ml) dog but not when mosquit...

The present study aimed to examine two glomerular markers (urinary albumin, uALB; urinary C-reactive protein, uCRP) in healthy dogs and in dogs infected with Dirofilaria immitis, and to identify some possible changes in these markers after therapy with ivermectin and doxycycline. Twenty dogs with D. immitis infection positive by both the Knott method and SNAP 4Dx (IDEXX, USA) test were included...