RT Journal Article
T1 Dirofilaria spp. infection in cats from the Mediterranean basin: diagnosis and epidemiology
A1 Carbonara, Mariaelisa
A1 Perles, Livia
A1 Venco, Luigi
A1 Gabrielli, Simona
A1 Barrs, Vanessa R.
A1 Miró Corrales, Guadalupe
A1 Papadopoulos, Elias
A1 Lima, Clara
A1 Bouhsira, Emilie
A1 Baneth, Gad
A1 Pantchev, Nikola
A1 Latta, Roberta
A1 Mendoza-Roldan, Jairo Alfonso
A1 Decaro, Nicola
A1 Schunack, Bettina
A1 Benelli, Giovanni
A1 Otranto, Domenico
AB 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.
PB Elsevier
SN 0020-7519
YR 2025
FD 2025-02-03
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/118450
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/118450
LA eng
NO Carbonara, M., Perles, L., Venco, L., Gabrielli, S., Barrs, V. R., Miró, G., Papadopoulos, E., Lima, C., Bouhsira, E., Baneth, G., Pantchev, N., Iatta, R., Mendoza-Roldan, J. A., Decaro, N., Schunack, B., Benelli, G., & Otranto, D. (2025). Dirofilaria spp. infection in cats from the Mediterranean basin: diagnosis and epidemiology. International journal for parasitology, S0020-7519(25)00022-0. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.01.011
NO CRedit authorship contribution statement:Maria Elisa Carbonara: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation. Livia Perles: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Formal analysis, Data curation. Luigi Venco: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis. Simona Gabrielli: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis. Vanessa R. Barrs: Writing – review & editing, Methodology. Guadalupe Miró: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation. Elias Papadopoulos: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation. Clara Lima: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation. Emilie Bouhsira: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation. Gad Baneth: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation. Nikola Pantchev: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation. Roberta Iatta: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation. Jairo Alfonso Mendoza-Roldan: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation. Nicola Decaro: Writing – review & editing, Methodology. Bettina Schunack: Writing – review & editing, Methodology. Giovanni Benelli: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Formal analysis, Data curation. Domenico Otranto: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Supervision, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation,Conceptualization
NO European Commission
DS Docta Complutense
RD 18 abr 2025