Presence of D. immitis in dogs of rural communities in south eastern Bolivia

INTRODUCTION Dirofilariosis is a worldwide-distributed disease caused by nematodes of the genus Dirofilaria superfamily Filaroidea. These nematodes may infest wild and domestic mammals. The principal agent of canine dirofilariosis in the Americas is Dirofilaria immitis, which may also occasionally infest humans. Human cases of dirofilariosis by D. immitis are relatively frequent in the Americas while only few cases have been recorded in Europe. In Bolivia dirofilariasis has been found in dogs and in wild canids (1). We refer on the results of a preliminary screening carried out in 2013 on the presence of D. immitis in dogs of two rural communities (Ivamirapinta and Bartolo) located in south eastern Bolivia MATERIALS AND METHODS Blood samples were collected from 50 dogs in the community of Bartolo (municipality of Monteagudo) and 50 in the community of Ivamirapinta (municipality of Gutierrez). Serum samples was subjected to an ELISA test for the detection of antigens of D. immitis (DiroCHEK®, Synbiotics). RESULTS All dogs in the community of Bartolo tested negative while 3 dogs in the community of Ivamirapinta resulted positive. This preliminary screening confirms the circulation of Dirofilaria immitis in the community of Ivamirapinta. CONCLUSIONS Further studies will be carried out by direct diagnostic methods to further characterize the filarioid parasites infesting dogs and to evaluate the risk of human infections. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bronson et al., 2008 Bolivia. J. Zool. Wildl. Med. 39:28-36 Fiorello et al., 2004 Bolivia. Anim. Conserv. 7:45-54