Open AccessDirofilaria immitis (Leidy, 1856) no entorno de um caso felino: um estudo sobre sua transmissão
Author(s) -
Aline Serricella Branco,
Flavya Mendes-de-Almeida,
Maria Carolina Ferreira Faria,
Letícia Mattos de Souza-Dantas,
Norma Labarthe
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
revista brasileira de parasitologia veterinária/brazilian journal of veterinary parasitology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.484
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1984-2961
pISSN - 0103-846X
DOI - 10.4322/rbpv.018e1003
Subject(s) - dirofilaria immitis , biology , microfilaria , veterinary medicine , fauna , aedes aegypti , dirofilariasis , aedes albopictus , aedes , dirofilaria repens , filariasis , zoology , virology , helminths , dengue fever , ecology , larva , medicine
Dirofilaria immitis preferably infects canids and can, in lower frequency, be found in cats (Felis catus Linnaeus, 1758). The parasite may be transmitted by various Culicidae species. Motivated by an autochtone feline heartworm case diagnosed in the region of Engenho Novo - RJ (S 22 degrees 90' e WO 43 degrees 27'), the following issues were surveyed: 1) the local Culicidae fauna and; 2) the ocurrence of microfilaremic dogs. The mosquito study was conducted from April 2003 through May 2004, by peri-domiciliary and intra-domiciliary captures. A total of 672 mosquitoes (female) of the following species were caught: Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) (561/672-83.5%); Culex quinquefasciatus Say (96/672-14.3%); Aedes (Oc.) scapularis (Rondani) (12/672-1.8%) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (3/672-0.4%). Only A. aegypti and C. quinquefasciatus specimens were captured year-round. A total of 235 canine blood samples were collected during the Campanha de Vacinação "Rio Sem Raiva" in October 2003. No microfilaria could be found in any of the examined samples (Knott s and NAN techniques), even though only 3.4% of the dogs received chemoprophylaxis and the majority of them frequently traveled to endemic areas. The presence of vectors associated to a possible dog mobility, may have provided the right scenario for the feline D. immitis infection to happen in the studied area.