Medica Jadertina, Vol. 40 No. 3-4, 2010.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
The prevalence of dirofilariasis in the hinterland of the Istrian peninsula
Dražen Holler
; Veterinarska stanica Buzet
Aleksandar Racz
orcid.org/0000-0002-3118-2623
; Zdravstveno veleučilište Zagreb
Jasna Bošnir
; Zavod za javno zdravstvo "Dr. Andrija Štampar", Zagreb
Olivera Petrak
; Zdravstveno veleučilište Zagreb
Sažetak
Istria, along with the Dubrovnik-Neretva County, is one of the two regions in Croatia where the presence of dirofilariasis in dogs caused by the parasite Dirofilaria immitis has been positively confirmed. On the other hand, dirofilariasis in dogs caused by the parasite Dirofilaria repens is present throughout Croatia.
Over ten human cases have been recorded in the period after the first confirmed case of dirofilariasis in man caused by the same parasite in 1996 to the present day. Considering the fact that the mosquito of the Aedes albopictus genus, which has been spreading aggressively along the coasts of the Istrian peninsula and towards its hinterland for the past three years, is the vector that transmits dirofilariasis from dogs, its natural hosts, to other animals and man, we would like to investigate the epizootiological prevalence of dirofilariasis among dogs in the area of Buzeština. Studies were carried out on 200 dogs, representing a 10% sample of the total number of dogs registered in the area of the Buzet epizootiological unit. The disease was confirmed in 61 (30.5%) dogs by Knott test and IDEXX SNAP 4Dx test. In 45.9% of these cases Dirofilaria repens
was identified by microscopic differentiation of positive findings, and in the other 26.3% of cases the presence of the parasite Dirofilaria repens was deemed very probable. It was considered certain that
Dirofilaria immitis was the causative agent in 6.6% of positive cases, and probably in further 9.8% of cases, confirming thereby statistically a significantly higher presence of Dirofilaria repens (χ2 = 17.02; df = 1; p < 0.01), as well. However, no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of the disease has been
established with respect to the gender of dogs (χ2 = 0.258; df = 1; p > 0.05) nor with respect to the prevalence of the disease between truffle dogs and hunting dogs.
When locating positive findings on the geographical map, the endangered areas are clearly discernible, especially in the immediate vicinity of Lake Butoniga and the Mirna River with its tributaries. However, due to less favourable climatic and geographical conditions for the reproduction of mosquitoes, the disease is less frequent in the Ćićarija, Erkovčić area and in the northern part of the municipality of Buzet. It is very worrying that t-test for proportions in the area of Istria have statistically confirmed the presence of a significantly greater number of affected dogs compared to the investigation carried out in the same area three years ago (t = 3.41).
Ključne riječi
dirofilariasis; Dirofilaria immitis; zoonoses; reservoir disease; disease vectors, Knott test, microfilariasis
Hrčak ID:
65090
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.3.2011.
Posjeta: 1.837 *