Dirofilaria spp. infection in cats from the Mediterranean basin: diagnosis and epidemiology

IF 3.7 2区医学 Q1 PARASITOLOGY

International journal for parasitology Pub Date : 2025-02-03 DOI:10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.01.011

Mariaelisa Carbonara , Livia Perles , Luigi Venco , Simona Gabrielli , Vanessa R. Barrs , Guadalupe Miró , Elias Papadopoulos , Clara Lima , Emilie Bouhsira , Gad Baneth , Nikola Pantchev , Roberta Iatta , Jairo Alfonso Mendoza-Roldan , Nicola Decaro , Bettina Schunack , Giovanni Benelli , Domenico Otranto

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Abstract

Dirofilaria immitis and Dirofilaria repens, causing heartworm disease and subcutaneous dirofilariosis, respectively, are zoonotic mosquito-borne filarioids infecting a plethora of hosts including cats. Only fragmented data are available on the diagnosis and epidemiology of feline dirofilariosis. We assessed the occurrence of both nematode infections, their risk factors and clinicopathological abnormalities in cats, from six countries of the Mediterranean Basin. In addition, Wolbachia spp. endosymbionts were assessed in Dirofilaria spp.-positive animals. Blood and sera samples were obtained from cats with outdoor access from Spain (n = 354), Portugal (n = 287), Italy (n = 125), Greece (n = 116), Israel (n = 101) and France (n = 100). Cat sera were tested by both direct antigenic (SNAP test, commercial ELISA kit) and indirect antibodies (in-house ELISA) serological tools, and blood samples by real time and conventional PCR targeting Dirofilaria spp. DNA, followed by sequencing. A statistical analysis was run to assess the link between Dirofilaria spp. infection and independent variables, as well as among feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and/or feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) co-infections, and clinicopathological abnormalities. Overall, 3.8% (i.e., 41/1,083) cats scored positive for Dirofilaria spp. infection with prevalences ranging from 2% in Israel to 7.8% in Greece. Of the 41 positive cats, 16 were infected by D. immitis (by SNAP test and/or PCR) and two by D. repens (by PCR); the remaining animals were antibody-positive for Dirofilaria spp. using the in-house ELISA. Wolbachia DNA was detected in one D. immitis-infected cat. Nematode positivity was significantly associated with age, breed, hyporexia, dandruff, and dyspnoea. This study provides data on the prevalence of Dirofilaria spp. infection in cats from the Mediterranean Basin, as well as new insights on its diagnosis, revealing the importance of performing strategic chemoprophylactic treatments for cats living in areas where the infection is endemic in dogs.

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地中海盆地猫的Dirofilaria感染：诊断和流行病学。

分别引起心丝虫病和皮下二丝虫病的免疫二丝虫和重丝虫是人畜共患的蚊媒丝虫病，可感染包括猫在内的大量宿主。关于猫二丝虫病的诊断和流行病学只有零散的数据。我们评估了来自地中海盆地六个国家的猫中线虫感染的发生率、危险因素和临床病理异常。此外，在Dirofilaria spj阳性动物中检测了沃尔巴克氏体内共生菌。从西班牙（n=354）、葡萄牙（n=287）、意大利（n=125）、希腊（n=116）、以色列（n=101）和法国（n=100）的户外猫身上采集血液和血清样本。猫血清采用直接抗原（SNAP测试，商用ELISA试剂盒）和间接抗体（内部ELISA）血清学工具检测，血样采用实时和常规PCR靶向Dirofilaria spp. DNA检测，并进行测序。进行统计分析，以评估Dirofilaria感染与自变量之间的联系，以及猫免疫缺陷病毒（FIV）和/或猫白血病病毒（FeLV）合并感染与临床病理异常之间的联系。总体而言，3.8%（即41/ 1083）的猫对Dirofilaria感染呈阳性，患病率从以色列的2%到希腊的7.8%不等。在41只阳性猫中，16只感染了D. immitis（通过SNAP试验和/或PCR）， 2只感染了D. repens（通过PCR）；其余动物用室内ELISA检测双丝虫抗体阳性。在一只感染了拟南毛线虫的猫身上检测到沃尔巴克氏体DNA。线虫阳性与年龄、品种、缺氧、头皮屑和呼吸困难显著相关。本研究提供了地中海盆地猫中Dirofilaria spp.感染流行率的数据，以及对其诊断的新见解，揭示了对生活在该感染也流行于狗的地区的猫进行战略性化学预防治疗的重要性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International journal for parasitology 医学-寄生虫学

CiteScore

8.40

自引率

2.50%

发文量

审稿时长

23 days

期刊介绍： International Journal for Parasitology offers authors the option to sponsor nonsubscriber access to their articles on Elsevier electronic publishing platforms. For more information please view our Sponsored Articles page. The International Journal for Parasitology publishes the results of original research in all aspects of basic and applied parasitology, including all the fields covered by its Specialist Editors, and ranging from parasites and host-parasite relationships of intrinsic biological interest to those of social and economic importance in human and veterinary medicine and agriculture.