Mustafa Alsarraf, Elena Carretón, Lavinia Ciuca, Anastasia Diakou, Dorota Dwużnik-Szarek, Hans-Peter Fuehrer, Marco Genchi, Angela Monica Ionică, Agnieszka Kloch, Laura Helen Kramer, Andrei D Mihalca, Martina Miterpáková, Rodrigo Morchón, Elias Papadopoulos, Mateusz Pękacz, Laura Rinaldi, Mohammed Alsarraf, Mariia Topolnytska, Alice Vismarra, Anna Zawistowska-Deniziak, Anna Bajer
BACKGROUND: Dirofilaria immitis, also known as heartworm, is one of the most important parasitic nematodes of domestic dogs, causing a potentially serious disease, cardiopulmonary dirofilariosis, which can be lethal. This species seems to be less 'expansive' than its sister species Dirofilaria repens, and it is believed that climate change facilitates the spread of this parasite to new non-endemic regions. METHODS: In total, 122 heartworm isolates were analysed from nine endemic countries in Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine) and a single isolate from Bangladesh by amplification and sequencing of two mitochondrial (mt) DNA markers: cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) and dehydrogenase subunit 1 (NADH)...
September 12, 2023: Parasites & Vectors