Diagnosis and therapy of Capillaria plica infection: report and literature review

Abstract

Worldwide, data on Capillaria (Pearsonema) plica infections of the urinary tract in domestic carnivores are limited. Nevertheless, cystitis with hematuria, dysuria or pollakiuria may suggest a C. plica infection. A three-year old dog from Poland showing pollakiuria and hematuria was presented. At urine analysis, C. plica eggs were found in the urine sediment. The dog was unsuccessfully treated with a daily oral dose of fenbendazole 50 mg/kg BW for 5 days, while a single subcutaneous administration of ivermectin 0.2 mg/kg BW once effectively eliminated C. plica infection.

Urinary capillariosis in six dogs from Italy

“…Treatment of P. plica infection can be challenging and over time it has been attempted with off-label use of different drugs such as: benzimidazoles, avermectines and levamisole. However, to date there are no approved drugs for treating dogs with urinary capillariosis (Senior et al, 1980;Kirkpatrick and Nelson, 1987;van Veen, 2002;Basso et al, 2014;Studzińska et al, 2015). Treatment with fenbendazole performed on three animals in this study appeared to be effective; however, it was recently pointed out that standard urinary sediment examination is not the most adequate way to monitor treatment effectiveness, and more sensitive methods should be used (Otranto, 2015).…”

“…Urinary capillariosis in dogs is caused by Pearsonema plica (Trichurida, Capillariidae), a nematode that infects domestic and wild carnivores worldwide. Clinical cases of canine urinary capillariosis have been reported in the United States (Senior et al, 1980;Kirkpatrick and Nelson, 1987) and Europe, including France (Cazelles et al, 1989), Switzerland (Spillmann and Glardon, 1989;Basso et al, 2014), Holland (van Veen, 2002), Poland (Studzińska et al, 2015) and Italy (Callegari et al, 2010;Maurelli et al, 2014). Adult parasites live superficially attached to the mucosa of the urinary bladder, while the ureters and renal pelvis are seldom affected (Bork-Mimm and Rinder, 2011).…”

Urinary capillariosis in dogs

“…Literature data confirms fenbendazole (50 mg/kg) and ivermectin (0.2 mg/kg) as an effective treatment for dogs with urinary capillariosis, with mandatory urine sediment control examinations and repetition of treatment depending on results shown by urological diagnostics (Basso et al, 2014). Basso et al (2014) stated that treatment with fenbendazole and ivermectin caused short-term improvement, while levamizole, metabolites of which are excreted by the urine in 94% of cases, was more effective (Studzińska et al, 2015). Knaus et al (2014) studied the treatment effectiveness of a drug combination: fipronil 8.3% (w/v), methoprene 10% (w/v), eprinomectin 0.4% (w/v) and praziquantel 8.3% (w/v) for treatment of cat urinary capillariosis (Studzińskaet al, 2015).…”

“…Clinical cases of urinary capillariosis in dogs were documented in the USA (Senior et al, 1980;Kirkpatrick and Nelson 1987) France (Cazelles et al, 1989), Switzerland (Basso et al,. 2014;Spillman and Glardon, 1989), Netherlands (van Veen, 2002), Poland (Studzińska et al, 2015) and Italy (Maurelli et al, 2014;Callegari et al, 2010).…”

“…Diagnosis of urinary capillariosis in dogs is generally set as an accidental finding; urine sediment examination can show many struvite crystals, red and white blood cells, bacteria and parasite eggs (Studzińska et al, 2015). Considering that female parasites only periodically excrete eggs, it is not always possible to set a diagnosis this way, despite the presence of infection (Kirkpatrick and Nelson, 1987).…”