Morphometric analyses of canine blood microfilariae isolated by the Knott's test enables Dirofilaria immitis and D. repens species-specific and Acanthocheilonema (syn. Dipetalonema) genus-specific diagnosis

Magnis, J; Lorentz, S; Guardone, L; Grimm, F; Magi, M; Naucke, T J; Deplazes, P

doi:10.1186/1756-3305-6-48

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Magnis, J., Lorentz, S., Guardone, L., Grimm, F., Magi, M., Naucke, T. J., & Deplazes, P. (2013). Morphometric analyses of canine blood microfilariae isolated by the Knott’s test enables Dirofilaria immitis and D. repens species-specific and Acanthocheilonema (syn. Dipetalonema) genus-specific diagnosis. Parasites & Vectors, 6, 48. https://doi.org/10.1186/1756-3305-6-48

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Considering the increasing importance of small animals travel medicine and the spread of filariae with zoonotic potential to non-endemic European areas, routine filarial diagnosis in dogs is becoming important. Dirofilaria immitis, D. repens, Acanthocheilonema dracunculoides and A. reconditum are the most common canine filarial nematodes presenting blood circulating microfilariae (mf) which can be differentiated to species level by the acid phosphatase activity patterns or by PCR. Available data on the size of the mf vary