Prevalence of dirofilariasis in dogs in antalya province

Dirofilariasis is a nematode disease caused by Dirofilaria immitis or Dirofilaria repens, that causes serious cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary disorders in carnivores, especially canines. The minimum known prepatent period of this parasitic disease is 6 months and the patent period is more than 5 years. This most important cardiopulmonary disease of dogs is zoonosis and arthropods such as lice, fleas, mosquitoes, basmaids and scavengers are vectors in its transmission to humans. The aim of this study is to diagnose the prevalence of Dirofilariasis caused by D. immitis in Antalya with rapid test kits and to investigate the incidence. 100 dogs brought between 14.10.2022 and 02.04.2023 in a private veterinary clinic in Antalya were selected and recorded by performing routine clinical examinations before blood sampling. In order to evaluate animals of all ages, the ages of the dogs examined were determined and divided into four main groups: 0-1 years old, 1--5 years old, 5-10 years old and over 11+ years old. In order to detect Dirofilaria antigen in the study, 100 randomly selected dogs with Bionote CHW Ag (Canine Heartworm Antigen) test kit were used. With the test method using fluorescent Europium complexes, 1 (1%) seropositive and 99 (99%) seronegative results were obtained. It is thought that D. immitis prevalance is low in Antalya and the data obtained as a result of this study can be used as a reference in future studies in Antalya and its districts.