Canine Dirofilariasis in the South Caucasus and its Pathomorphology

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to provide the results of a study on the regional distribution of dirofilariasis (causative agent: Dirofilaria immitis, Dirofilaria repens, and other concurrent filarial species in animal reservoirs) among the canine population in Georgia and Armenia and estimate the disease burden in these countries. In total, 1065 animals were investigated in the different regions of Armenia and Georgia, and 26 positive cases were detected. The prevalence of dirofilariasis is 2.4%. However, it varies across regions from 0% to 25%. The Kruskal-Wallis test showed that variation is sta-tistically significant (P=0.01). The majority of positive cases (11) were from the Kvemo Kartli region (Georgia). The highest number (7) of cases have been found in the Armavir region (Armenia). The other cases were found in Tbilisi / Capital City of Georgia (two cas-es), Yerevan / Capital City of Armenia (two cases), Shirak Region (two cases), and only one case in regions Achara and Ararat. Keywords: Dirofilaria spp., Canine Dirofilariasis, Georgia, Armenia, Souse Caucasus, Vector-Borne disease (VBD)