Role of golden jackals (Canis aureus) as natural reservoirs of Dirofilaria spp. in Romania

Abstract

BackgroundDirofilaria immitis and Dirofilaria repens are mosquito-transmitted zoonotic nematodes, causing heartworm disease and skin lesions, respectively, in carnivores. In Europe, the domestic dog is apparently the main definitive host, but patent infections occur also in other species of carnivores. The rapid spread of the golden jackals (Canis aureus) throughout Europe opens a question of involvement of this species in the sylvatic cycle of pathogens in the colonised territories, including Dirofilaria spp.MethodsBetween January 2014 and May 2015, 54 golden jackals from 18 localities in Romania were examined by full necropsy for the presence of adult filarioid nematodes and blood samples from all animals were screened for the presence of microfilariae of D. immitis, D. repens and Acanthocheilonema reconditum by multiplex PCR DNA amplification.ResultsNematodes morphologically identified as D. immitis were found in 18.52 % of the animals, originating from the southern part of Romania. No D. repens or A. reconditum were found at necropsy. The molecular prevalence in blood samples from the same animals was 9.26 % for D. immitis and 1.85 % for D. repens. All samples were negative by PCR for A. reconditum.ConclusionThe relatively high prevalence of Dirofilaria spp. infections in golden jackals from Romania together with the increasing density of the jackal populations highlight their potential role in the transmission of these zoonotic parasites and in the maintenance of natural disease foci.

First report of the dog louse fly Hippobosca longipennis in Romania

“…The importance of the presence of H. longipennis resides in its vectorial capacity, so far clearly demonstrated only for the filarial nematode A. dracunculoides (Nelson, 1963). Although the presence of A. dracunculoides in central and eastern Europe has not yet been reported despite systematic surveillance in both domestic and wild carnivores (Ionicȃ et al, 2015(Ionicȃ et al, , 2016(Ionicȃ et al, , 2017a(Ionicȃ et al, , 2017b, the presence of its vectors should raise awareness. However, the louse flies (Hippoboscidae) are not the sole vectors of this parasite as ticks [Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato (Ixodida: Ixodidae)] have also been incriminated (Olmeda-Garcia et al, 1993;Olmeda-Garcia & Rodriguez-Rodriguez, 1994;Mihalca et al, 2012;Dantas-Torres & Otranto, 2015).…”

Circulation of Dirofilaria immitis and Dirofilaria repens in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, Romania

“…Different studies on the parasites’ prevalence in dogs detected local infection rates between 3% and even more than 60% [ 8 – 13 ]. In addition to domestic animals, recent studies also identified D. immitis or D. repens in different wild carnivore species (golden jackals, red fox, wildcat, grey wolf, least weasel), which probably have critical roles as reservoirs maintaining the helminths in natural disease foci [ 14 , 15 ]. Nevertheless, only a few human cases have been identified in the country so far [ 16 , 17 ].…”

Detection of Dirofilaria immitis in a brown bear (Ursus arctos) in Greece

“…However, it is considered to be non-pathogenic, contrary to D. immitis (Ramsey, 2003). The role of wildlife species, such as the golden jackal (Ionica et al, 2016), coyote in California (Sacks, 1998), the red fox in Australia (Marks and Bloomfi eld, 1998) and the fox or wolf in Europe (Morchón et al, 2012) as reservoir hosts for Dirofi laria spp. may be of signifi cant importance in maintaining or spreading the parasite.…”