Urinary capillariosis in dogs

Abstract

Background. Urinary capillariosis in dogs is caused by Capillaria plica (syn. Pearsonema plica), a ubiquitous parasitic nematode resembling a string which belongs to the family Capillariidae. It parasitizes the feline, canine and musteline urinary bladder, and has been found in ureters and renal pelvises as well. C. plica has an indirect life cycle, with earthworms (Lumbricina) as intermediate hosts and domestic and wild animals (dog, cat, fox and wolf) as primary hosts. Infection of primary hosts occurs via ingestion of earthworms that contain infective first stadium (L1) larvae. An alternative path of infection for primary hosts is assumed to be ingestion of soil contaminated by infectious larvae derived from decomposed earthworms. Infection is mostly asymptomatic, but the clinical picture presents with pollakiuria, dysuria, haematuria, polydipsia, incontinence and/or fever. Scope and Approach. The aim of this review is to highlight the importance of urinary capillariosis in dogs. Since the health care of wild and domestic carnivores is extremely important, this review provides information about the morphology, biology and epizootiology of the C. plica nematode. Due to the importance of this disease for clinicians and increased disease prevalence during the last decade in many countries, this review presents the latest information on the pathogenesis, clinical signs, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of this infection.

First detection and low prevalence of Pearsonema spp. in wild raccoons (Procyon lotor) from Central Europe

“…P. mucronata infests several species of mustelids ( Moravec et al, 1987 ; Varodi et al, 2017 ), while the presence of P. feliscati has been reported from domestic cats ( Felis catus ; Beugnet and Knaus, 2015 ) and sometimes from wild felids ( Bagrade et al, 2003 ; Krone et al, 2008 ). Infestations with Pearsonema nematodes are usually asymptomatic, but severe cases of ‘urinary capillariosis’, characterised among others by dysuria, fever and urinary incontinence, have been described in both domestic dogs and cats ( Beugnet and Knaus, 2015 ; Ilić et al, 2021 ).…”

Epizootiological and Clinical Significance of Stephanurus Dentatus Nematode in Swine

“…In the territory of the Republic of Serbia, there are reports related to problems of parasitic infections of the gastrointestinal tract in pigs (Ilić and Dimitrijević, 2005; Ilić and Dimitrijević, 2006;Ilić et al, 2011;Ilić et al, 2013;Ilić et al, 2021a), but there is no data in the literature on urinary tract parasitoses in this species of ungulate. Besides recent reports on urinary capillariasis of domestic and wild carnivores (Aleksić et al, 2020;Ilić et al, 2021b), not enough attention has been paid on studying urinary diseases of parasitic etiology of other animal species in previous research on animals in Serbia.…”

Epidemiological and Clinical Importance of Canine Dioctophimosis

“…Th ere are numerous reports from Serbia related to the problem of intestinal, cardiorespiratory, and ocular parasitic infections in domestic carnivorous animals (Gajić et (Aleksić et al, 2020) and urinary capillariasis in dogs (Ilić et al, 2021a), in previous research in Serbia, not enough attention has been devoted to the study of urinary parasitoses in domestic carnivores.…”