Occurrence of larvae of Metastrongyloidea in feaces of cats from southeastern Poland

Abstract

Faecal samples from 716 cats from Poland, were examined for lungworm larvae (Metastrongyloidea) by flotation, sedimentation and Baermann techniques between January 2016 and April 2019 year. In total, 1.1% (8/716; CI ± 95% 0.3-1.9) of cats shed lungworm larvae. In the animals examined, infections with Aelurostrongylus abstrusus predominated (7 positive samples), while larvae of Troglostrongylus brevior were detected in only one sample. These invasions were more prevalent in animals under 6 months of age (3.0%) (6/201; CI ± 95%; 0.6-5.4) than in those older than one year (0.4%) (2/515; CI ± 95% 0.0-0.9). Overall, a distinct seasonal pattern was apparent in the detection of infected cats, but annual volatility was not observed. A relatively large proportion of lungworm-infected cats (4 out of 8) had pulmonary syndromes, which indicates that these parasitic diseases should be considered in differential diagnosis of any inflammations of the respiratory system, especially in young animals.

The Prevalence of Endoparasites of Free Ranging Cats (Felis catus) from Urban Habitats in Southern Poland

“…Lung nematodes Aelurostrongylus abstrusus (Strongylida: Angiostrongylidae) were commonly reported in cats across Europe [27,46] and together with E. aerophilus are currently considered the most important causes of parasite-induced respiratory infection in felids [27]. Recently, the pulmonary nematode Troglostrongylus brevior (Strongylida: Crenosomatidae) has also been detected in domestic cats [60].…”

Efficacy of a topical combination of eprinomectin, praziquantel, fipronil and (S)-methoprene against developing and adult Troglostrongylus brevior lungworms (Nematoda, Crenosomatidae) in cats

“…Since then, an increasing number of T. brevior cases in domestic cats have been reported, mainly based on morphological and/or molecular identification of larvae extracted from cat feces, including records from Spain ( Giannelli et al, 2017 ), Italy ( Brianti et al, 2013 , Annoscia et al, 2014 , Di Cesare et al, 2014 , Di Cesare et al, 2015a , Di Cesare et al, 2015b , Giannelli et al, 2014 , Giannelli et al, 2015 , Giannelli et al, 2017 , Tamponi et al, 2014 , Traversa et al, 2014 , Traversa et al, 2015 , Traversa et al, 2019 , Crisi et al, 2015 , Crisi et al, 2017 ; Varcasia et al, 2015 ; Cavalera et al, 2018 , Cavalera et al, 2019 ), Greece ( Diakou et al, 2014 , Diakou et al, 2015 ), Bulgaria ( Giannelli et al, 2017 ) and Cyprus ( Diakou et al, 2017 ). Recently, a pair of T. brevior was isolated from a cat co-infected with Aelurostrongylus abstrusus in Albania (Knaus and Vokshi; unpublished), and the recovery of T. brevior larvae from the feces of one cat in Poland was reported ( Szcepaniak et al, 2019 ). In addition, there were new records of T. brevior in wildcats from Italy ( Beraldo et al, 2014 , Falsone et al, 2014 , Veronesi et al, 2016 ), Germany ( Steeb, 2015 ) and Romania ( Deak et al, 2017 ).…”