How do you treat Dirofilaria immitis?

The protocol is:

Doxycycline 10 to 20mg/kg SID or BID for 30 days.
Ivermectin at minimum dosage of 6 to 12mg/kg monthly or topical moxidectin 2.5mg/kg monthly until two consecutive negative antigen test results after 12 months.

What is Dirofilaria immitis antigen?

Dirofilaria immitis is responsible for heartworm disease in dogs in endemic areas worldwide. Screening for this infection is done by blood tests. Antigen testing is the most sensitive method to detect an infection with adult (female) worms.

How is Dirofilaria immitis transmitted?

Dirofilaria are long, thin parasitic roundworms that infect a variety of mammals. Infection is transmitted by mosquito bites. There are many species of Dirofilaria, but human infection is caused most commonly by three species, D. immitis, D.

What animals can get Dirofilaria immitis?

Heartworm disease is a serious disease that results in severe lung disease, heart failure, other organ damage, and death in pets, mainly dogs, cats, and ferrets. It is caused by a parasitic worm called Dirofilaria immitis. The worms are spread through the bite of a mosquito.

How is dirofilaria immitis diagnosed?

Diagnosis of heartworm infection in clinical practice relies upon detecting antigen of Dirofilaria immitis in serum, plasma, or whole blood samples from canine and feline patients.

Where does dirofilaria immitis come from?

Dirofilaria immitis is found in many tropical, subtropical and temperate regions of the world, particularly humid areas and river valleys where environmental conditions harbor the breeding of mosquito vectors.

How is Dirofilaria immitis diagnosed?

Where is Dirofilaria most common?

Geographic Distribution. Dirofilaria immitis is cosmopolitan in dogs in North and South America, Australia, Japan and Europe, and is particularly prevalent in warmer areas where transmission is sustained for most of the year.

What is the common name for dirofilaria immitis?

dog heartworm
Dirofilaria immitis, also known as heartworm or dog heartworm, is a parasitic roundworm that is a type of filarial worm, a small thread-like worm, that causes dirofilariasis.

How do I know if I have dirofilaria?

Laboratory Diagnosis The species that produce subcutaneous nodules are diagnosed by the finding of adult worms in biopsy specimens of these nodules. The morphologic features of the cuticle, musculature, and lateral chords are important criteria for identifying Dirofilaria.