Canine dirofilariasis in urban areas

УДК 619:616.995
DOI 10.33861/2071-8020-2024-4-35-37

Morozov N. V., Golubev A. A., Sochnev V. V., Kozyrenko O. V.

Summary. Authors conducted monitoring studies and determined the frequency of dog infestation with heartworms in an urbanized area. Between 2019 and 2023. 298 blood samples were collected from domestic, stray and service dogs in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. The following clinical signs were noted in the animals: weight loss, increased fatigue, dry cough, wheezing in the lungs, shortness of breath, upon auscultation - pathological heart murmurs, high blood pressure. Some individuals had swelling in the area of the intermaxillary space and lower extremities. To make a diagnosis, tests for dirofilariasis were also carried out. Some of the blood samples (according to the state order) were sent for research at the state budgetary institution of the Nizhny Novgorod region «Regional Veterinary Laboratory», some were examined using Diro Ag test systems (a set of reagents for immunochromatographic detection of the cuticular antigen of Dirofilaria immitis in serum, plasma and whole blood dogs and cats) and Vetexpert One Step Test -Rapid Heartworm Ag, were examined microscopically and also sent to accredited veterinary laboratories (‘Artvet’, ‘Vettest’, ‘Laboratory of Dr. N. V. Mitrokhina’, ‘Vetunion’). Dirofilariasis in dogs in the Nizhny Novgorod region was first diagnosed among service dogs in the Bogorodsky district in the nineties of the last century (Belyanina N.V.). It was found that the number of dogs infected with dirofilariasis (extensinvasion varies from 5.97 to 11.1%). Identified cases of dirofilaria infestation of domestic, stray and service dogs in the city of Nizhny Novgorod confirm the continued tension of the epizootic situation regarding dirofilariasis of dogs in the conditions of Nizhny Novgorod and the danger of epidemic projection of this zoonosis, as well as the need for annual screening studies and continuous epizootological surveillance of epizootic situation regarding dirofilariasis in a megalopolis, conducting epizootological monitoring.

Keywords: dirofilariasis, zoonoses, urbanized area, epizootological surveillance, epidemic surveillance, dogs, parasitosis, monitoring, screening studies, biological safety.

Author affiliation:

Morozov Nikolay V., Ph. D. in Veterinary Medicine, senior laboratory assistant of the Department of Epizootology, Parasitology and Veterinary-Sanitary Expertise of the Nizhny Novgorod State Agrotechnological University; 97, Gagarina av., Nizhny Novgorod, 603107; phone: 8-904-7857660; e-mail: morozov.nikolai.morozov@yandex.ru.

Golubev Aleksey A., post-graduate student of the Department of Epizootology, Parasitology and Veterinary-Sanitary Expertise of the Nizhny Novgorod State Agrotechnological University; 97, Gagarina av., Nizhny Novgorod, 603107; phone: 8-908-7296564; e-mail: fdgod.alex832@gmail.com.

Kozyrenko Olga V., D. Sc. in Veterinary Medicine, professor of the Department of Epizootology named after Academician V. P. Urban of the Saint-Petersburg State University of Veterinary Medicine; 97, Gagarina av., Nizhny Novgorod, 603107; phone: 8-920-2563735; e-mail: m-koff@mail.ru.

Responsible for correspondence with the editorial board: Sochnev Vasily V., D. Sc. in Veterinary Medicine, professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, professor of the Department of Epizootology, Parasitology and Veterinary and Sanitary Expertise of the Nizhny Novgorod State Agrotechnological University; 97, Gagarina av., Nizhny Novgorod, 603107; phone: 8-920-2563735; e-mail: kafedra40@mail.ru.