The seroprevalence of canine dirofilariosis in dogs in the eastern coastal areas of China

Dongjie Cai; Bin Tian; Yongxia Liu; Mujeeb Ur Rehman; David Ranucci; Fabrizia Veronesi; Antonio Varcasia; Wanzhong Jia; Jianzhu Liu

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17009

The seroprevalence of canine dirofilariosis in dogs in the eastern coastal areas of China

Heliyon. 2023 Jun 7;9(6):e17009. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17009. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Dongjie Cai¹, Bin Tian², Yongxia Liu³, Mujeeb Ur Rehman¹, David Ranucci⁴, Fabrizia Veronesi⁴, Antonio Varcasia⁵, Wanzhong Jia⁶, Jianzhu Liu³

Affiliations

¹ College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China.
² Institute of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China.
³ Department of Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, 271018, China.
⁴ Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, 06126, Italy.
⁵ Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Sassari, 07100, Italy.
⁶ Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, 730046, China.

Abstract

Background and objectives: The present study was carried out to assess the presence of canine Dirofilaria immitis infection in pet dogs in China.

Materials and methods: From October 2018 to November 2019, a total of 216 sera were collected from pet hospitals in Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Fujian regions of Eastern China. The sera were tested by using a commercial canine heartworm antibody ELISA test kit.

Results: 70.8% of the pets had significant clinical symptoms resembled to heartworm infection; the overall dirofilariosis positivity found was 12.5% (27/216); Significant positive rates differences were observed between symptomatic and asymptomatic dogs (P < 0.05) (i.e. 15.7% and 4.7% respectively).The prevalence of infection in Shandong Province (15.5%) was the highest among the surveyed areas, but the difference among the geographic regions was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Furthermore, the prevalence detected in summer (28.2%) was significantly higher than in other seasons (P < 0.05). In addition, no significant difference was observed between male and female sex (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: Altogether, these results suggest that an epidemic of dirofilariosis exists in eastern coastal China, as such preventive measures should be taken to control the spread of dirofilariosis to reduce the risk of human and pet infection with heartworm.

Keywords: Dirofilaria immitis; Dog; Eastern China; Seroprevalence.