Effects of doxycycline on heartworm embryogenesis, transmission, circulating microfilaria, and adult worms in microfilaremic dogs

McCall, John W.; Kramer, Laura; Genchi, C.; Guerrero, Jorge; Dzimianski, Michael T.; Mansour, Abdelmoneim; McCall, Scott; Carson, Ben

doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2014.09.023

Cited by 53 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…A doxycycline dose of 5 mg/kg PO BID for 4 weeks has been previously recommended to target the Wolbachia of O. lupi . However, this dose may be too low given that a 10 mg/kg PO BID dose is recommended for targeting Wolbachia in dogs infected with D. immitis . This concern led to an increase in the dose of doxycycline and minocycline to 10 mg/kg PO BID administered to the dogs that presented later in this series.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Canine ocular onchocerciasis: a retrospective review of the diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of 16 cases in New Mexico (2011–2015)

McLean

Newkirk

Adema

2016

Veterinary Ophthalmology

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Objective To describe the clinical exam findings, treatment and outcomes of 16 dogs diagnosed with ocular onchocerciasis in New Mexico. Materials and Methods Records of dogs diagnosed by the primary author were reviewed (2011–2015). Records that were accessible and included a diagnosis of Onchocerca lupi by histopathologic or molecular identification of the nematode were included. Results Sixteen cases were included. 3/16 dogs were treated with year‐round heartworm prophylaxis prior to infection. Clinical exam findings included conjunctival hyperemia and/or episcleral injection (16/16), focal subconjunctival mass(es) (14/16), retinal detachment (7/16), corneal edema (4/16), chemosis (3/16), corneal opacity (2/16), exophthalmia (1/16), glaucoma (1/16), strabismus (1/16), blepharospasm (1/16), and vitreal degeneration (1/16). Ocular involvement was unilateral in 7/16 dogs and bilateral in 9/16 dogs. The diagnosis was confirmed via histologic identification of the nematodes and/or PCR. Treatment consisted of medical management or a combination medical and surgical management. Known or suspected recurrence of disease was documented in 10 dogs. Conclusions Canine ocular onchocerciasis is endemic in New Mexico. Histopathology and molecular identification are useful diagnostic tools. Medical management alone was successful in many cases.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Canine ocular onchocerciasis: a retrospective review of the diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of 16 cases in New Mexico (2011–2015)

McLean

Newkirk

Adema

2016

Veterinary Ophthalmology

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“…Regarding dogs imported from endemic areas, it is more difficult to consider the susceptibility gap, which is defined as the period when adult heartworm disease has been diagnosed, but some stages of D. immitis are not susceptible to treatment with macrocyclic lactones or melarsomine dihydrochloride (Bowman and Drake 2017), as many dogs are presented several months after their entry, that is a long time after exposure to the parasite. Irrespective of the therapy protocol used, administration of macrocyclic lactones and doxycycline one to 2 weeks prior to the first melarsomine injection should be considered in order to minimize side effects induced by the death of macrofilariae (McCall 2005;McCall et al 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current trends in canine dirofilariosis in Austria—do we face a pre-endemic status?

Sonnberger¹,

Duscher

Fuehrer

et al. 2020

Parasitol Res

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A retrospective study based on cases of canine dirofilariosis presented to the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna or diagnosed by private practitioners throughout Austria, from 1998 to 2018 was conducted to investigate the long-term development and current state of canine dirofilarial infections in Austria. Included in this study were 146 dogs which were tested positive for D. immitis and/or D. repens. The most commonly used diagnostic methods and the probable geographical origins of the infections were evaluated and the treatment protocols applied were compared with each other and with the literature. The results show that most infections were found due to screening for common travel infections using antigen-ELISA or PCR-testing, or by the incidental finding of microfilariae. Remarkably, only 24.3% of all cases presented showed clinical signs indicating canine dirofilariosis. Regarding the origin and travel history of the dogs, thirteen different countries could be identified. The three treatment protocols used showed a similar outcome after 8 months of treatment and minor side effects, which is consistent with the literature. An alarming increase in reported infections with both D. immitis and D. repens in Austria was noted since 2014. The number of documented cases had almost tripled by 2018, raising severe concerns about the threat of it becoming endemic in Austria. Therefore, the existing recommendations in current guidelines regarding canine dirofilariosis should be widely publicised and more strictly enforced. Prophylactic measures for dogs travelling abroad and diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for dogs imported from endemic countries should be obligatorily established throughout Europe, to reduce the risk of further spread of canine filarial infections to non-endemic regions.

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“…Studies carried out on some anthroponotic filariae and on Dirofilaria immitis obtained discordant results. However, it seems that only doxycycline may have a possible adulticidal effect [ 2 , 11 ] , due to its action on the bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia , present in most filarial species ( D. repens included). It is conceivable that doxycycline had an adulticidal effect and a role in the absence of microfilariae in the bloodstream, but it should be taken in mind that the patient received only a brief course of treatment (14 days), and peripheral blood was tested for microfilariae 3 months after therapy withdrawal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dirofilaria repens microfilariae from a human node fine-needle aspirate: a case report

et al. 2016

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BackgroundHuman dirofilariosis is still a little known infection even in endemic areas. Dirofilariosis is zoonotic infection usually abortive in humans; instead, we report a very rare case (the 4th in the world), the first in Italy, in which at least two infective larvae became mature adults that mated and produced active microfilariae even though they did not reach peripheral blood.Case presentationA 30-year-old Italian woman presented with a transient oedematous swelling on the left abdominal wall with a creeping eruption followed by the occurrence of a subcutaneous nodular painless mass in the iliac region. One month later, a similar temporary swelling appeared on the contralateral inguinal region associated with intermittent joint discomfort in both knees. The patient had recently travelled abroad, therefore many possible diagnoses were to be ruled out. Routine laboratory investigations revealed eosinophilia. An ultrasound examination of the iliac swelling evidenced a well-defined cyst with a big filamentous formation in continuous movement. A fine-needle aspiration of the lesion was performed for parasitological, cytological and histological exams. The prompt microscopic examination of the aspired material showed the presence of numerous microfilariae that were initially morphologically attributed to Mansonella ozzardi. Subsequently, the revision of the Giemsa stained film and molecular analyses of the biological material, allowed to identify Dirofilaria repens as etiological agent of infection.ConclusionsWe report of a case in whom microfilariae were detected in fine-needle aspirate of subcutaneous node, without evidence of microfilaraemia, and the infection failed to become fully patent. Therefore we confirm that complete development and fertilization of D. repens worms in human hosts may occur, at variance with what is commonly believed, that Dirofilaria worms cannot fully develop in humans.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-016-1582-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Effects of doxycycline on heartworm embryogenesis, transmission, circulating microfilaria, and adult worms in microfilaremic dogs

Cited by 53 publications

References 49 publications

Canine ocular onchocerciasis: a retrospective review of the diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of 16 cases in New Mexico (2011–2015)

Canine ocular onchocerciasis: a retrospective review of the diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of 16 cases in New Mexico (2011–2015)

Current trends in canine dirofilariosis in Austria—do we face a pre-endemic status?

Dirofilaria repens microfilariae from a human node fine-needle aspirate: a case report

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