Dirofilariosis and Leishmaniasis in the Northern Region of Serbia

Abstract

Research in the field of vector borne diseases and zoonozes became a topic of interest in Serbia, during the last decade. Climate changes in the country (and the region) are evident. Also, significantly is higher frequency of human and animal movement and travel, especially of dogs, within the European countries, but with overseas countries as well. The presence of vectors has already been confirmed in the country and all the surrounding countries. Current research in the domain of infectious diseases in dogs mostly includes diseases which drastically endanger health and population of dogs. Some of those infectious diseases, like dirofilariosis and leishmaniasis, which are found more or less often in dogs, cause clinical symptoms which are not obvious and therefore they represent a danger for public health with dogs acting as reservoirs of the infection. Vectors necessary for the transmission of dirofilariosis are mosquitoes and for leishmaniasis are sand flies. Vectors of dirofilariosis are mosquitoes. Female mosqui‐ toes which feed on mammals can transfer microfilaria from one infected organism to another non infected one. Dirofilaria immitis is a nematode, intravascular parasite that lives in bloodstream of host, usually pulmonary vessels. Prepatent period is at least 6-7 months in definitive hosts. Maturation of organisms in mosquitoes is temperature dependant and over 14oC is needed. Diagnostic methods for dirofilariosis are many, but several serological methods can be used: ELISA modified Knott test, immunoem‐ zyme fast test and then molecular method (PCR), etc. Leishmaniasis is a vector borne zoonotic disease caused by a pathogen of Leishmania species. For the transmission of the disease, sand flies are needed as vectors from © 2015 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Lutzomyia spp. Female sand flies are bloodsucking organisms which can transfer the pathogen from one host to another during their feeding time. The presence of Phlebotominae (commonly known as “sand flies”) has been identified in Serbia. The most certain method for diagnostic is demonstration of the parasite from bone marrow, splenic or lymph node aspirates, but there are other less invasive methods, like IFAT (immunofluorescent test) and ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). Material for the research were samples from dogs and samples of vectors. In total, 292 samples of mosquitoes were collected and identified and 170 of blood samples from dogs were examined for dirofilariosis and leishmaniasis. Methods used in the study were modified Knott test and PCR for dirofilariosis and ELISA test for leismaniasis. For dirofialriosis a total prevalence of the disease in dogs was found to be 15,29%, (with different values from 3-22%) for different groups of dogs (hunting and military dogs, dogs from asylum and pet dogs). Total seroprevalence for all 170 blood samples was 10,59% for leishmaniasis. Overall, there is acually no difference in seroprevalnce for leishmaniosis, between different groups of dogs (hunting and military dogs, dogs from asylum and pet dogs). There is a reasonable doubt that leismaniasis appears as a disease in the Northern part of Serbia, in region of Vojvodina. The presence of vectors has been identified (Phlebotomus papatasi, Laroussius tobbi) as well as existing seropre‐ valence in dogs with and without clinical symptoms. All of this suggests that there is an existence of the reservoirs of infection.