Treatment with doxycycline is associated with complete clearance of circulating Wolbachia DNA in Dirofilaria immitis-naturally infected dogs.
Acta Trop
; 232: 106513, 2022 Aug.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35598650
ABSTRACT
Bacteria of the genus Wolbachia are endosymbionts of parasitic filarial nematodes, including Dirofilaria immitis, and are a target for the treatment of canine heartworm disease. In the present study, 53 naturally-infected dogs were divided in three groups, based on their positivity to D. immitis by antigen and Knott tests, to assess the efficacy of doxycycline treatment in eliminating Wolbachia from circulating blood. At T0, dogs that scored positive to both tests (G1) or to antigen only (G2) were submitted to doxycycline (10 mg/kg BID PO) treatment and to 10% Imidacloprid + 2.5% Moxidectin (Advocate®), while those negative to both tests (G3) received only 10% Imidacloprid + 2.5% Moxidectin (Advocate®). All dogs were followed-up for one year, monthly treated with Advocate® and regularly monitored by antigen and Knott tests. During the whole period, all blood samples were screened for Wolbachia-D. immitis DNA load by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). At T0, 88.2% of the microfilariemic dogs were positive for Wolbachia DNA, while none of the dogs from G2 or G3 were positive. Wolbachia DNA was no longer detectable in dogs from G1 following 1 month of doxycycline treatment and microfilariae (mfs) were cleared at T2. All dogs from the G1 and G2 were negative for D. immitis antigen at 12 months. Results of this study suggest that successful elimination of mfs by doxycycline is associated with complete clearance of Wolbachia DNA in D. immitis-naturally infected dogs.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Health context:
3_ND
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Wolbachia
/
Dirofilaria immitis
/
Dirofilariasis
/
Dog Diseases
/
Cell-Free Nucleic Acids
Type of study:
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Acta Trop
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article