Prevalence of Dirofilariasis in dogs from the city and suburbs of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

ROSA, A.; RIBICICH, M.; BETTI, A.; KISTERMAN, J.C.; CARDILLO, N.; BASSO, N.; HALLU, R.

Stressa

Conferencia; The 18 º International Conference of the world Association for the advancement of veterinary Parasitology.; 2001

World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology

This work was conduced to study the prevalence of canine dirofilariasis in animals living in Buenos Aires, from 1997 to 2001. Blood samples were extracted from the city of Bs. As., the south, the north and the west area of Bs. As. Suburbs. Samples were analyzed for Dirofilaria immitis with a circulating antigen detection test. Of the 782 blood samples, 72 dogs were found to be positive (9,2 %) and lived in the north and south zones. Samples extracted from the city of Buenos Aires and the west zone resulted negative. The prevalence in females (37,5 %) was less than in males (62,5 %) (p<0,05). Positive animals were between 5 and 8 years old. It is remarkable the geographic distribution of the disease, showing the existence of specific ecological niches for the development of the biological cycle of Dirofilaria immitis.