Prevalence of Dirofilaria repens: Cause of zoonosis in dogs

Systematic research of zoonosis caused by species Dirofilaria repens have not been performed till now in Serbia, so that this is the first such study. The aim of the paper was to detect and identify the presence of Dirofilaria repens microfilariae in the canine peripheral blood, covering the territory of Serbia (territory of the City of Nis and Vojvodina). The examination comprised a total of 45 dogs from the territory of the City of Nis and 193 dogs from the territory of Vojvodina. For detection of microfilariae in the canine peripheral blood, a modified Knott's test was used. Identification of Dirofilaria repens microfilariae was performed according to their morphological and morphometric characteristics. All morphometric parameters were obtained using a modern automatic television system for picture analysis Lucia M (NIKON, 3.51 ab). By diagnostic technique application, the species Dirofilaria repens was identified in 95 dogs (49.22%) at the territory of Vojvodina, which is a significant district area for canine filarioses and transitional hosts for filariae. At the territory of the City of Nis, microfilariae of Dirofilaria repens were not found in any of the examined dogs.