Long Time No Hear, Magnificent Wohlfahrtia! Morphological and Molecular Evidence of Almost Forgotten Flesh Fly in Serbia and Western Balkans.

The "beautiful viviparous fly", Wohlfahrtia magnifica, may have a magnificent appearance due to its striking morphology; however, it is a potentially deadly agent of obligate traumatic myiasis in humans and animals, with a serious impact on welfare and economics. The fly is found across the Palearctic realm, including the Western Balkan region, with reports from former Yugoslavian countries from the first half of the 20th century. In this paper, a recent case of wohlfahrtiosis recorded in Northern Serbia is evidenced using morphological and molecular techniques. Larvae were collected from two adult sheep with severe hoof myiasis and two young sheep with genital and interdigital myiasis. Morphological identification was performed for adults bred from the infested vulva and third-stage larvae (L3) collected from the hoof wounds, supported with barcoding sequences of the COI gene obtained from larval pairs from the hoof wounds of older and the genitalia of younger sheep. W. magnifica was identified according to the appearance of male fly terminalia and the morphology of L3, which was confirmed after the comparison of representative sequences of the COI gene (deposited in GenBank™ under accession numbers MT027108-MT027114) to those available in GenBank™. This finding represents the first reported case of wohlfahrtiosis in the Western Balkans in 80 years, highlighting the need to re-inform relevant stakeholders to achieve adequate disease control.

Moving the boundaries to the South-East: first record of autochthonous Angiostrongylus vasorum infection in a dog in Vojvodina province, northern Serbia.

BACKGROUND: Angiostrongylus vasorum is a cardiopulmonary canine nematode, potentially fatal to its host. In the last decade, there has been an increasing number of autochthonous cases in areas previously considered non-endemic. However, information about the parasite's occurrence and distribution among Central and Eastern (Southeastern) European countries are scarce. This paper reports the first recorded case of autochthonous A. vasorum infection in a hunting dog from Serbia. FINDINGS: In March 2013, a female hunting dog was presented to a veterinary clinic in Novi Sad, Serbia, for examination of a chronic skin problem. The dog had no history of respiratory or cardiovascular diseases. Faecal and urine samples were collected and examined for the presence of parasite ova/cysts. A modified Baermann test detected 8.8 larvae per gram of faeces. Based on their overall body length (mean 381.7 ± 15.9 µm; range from 342.5 to 404.3 µm; n = 12) and characteristic tail morphology, they were identified as the first-stage larvae of A. vasorum. CONCLUSIONS: The spread of A. vasorum to the southeast of Europe is further confirmed after finding autochthonous infected dog from Serbia. Therefore, veterinary professionals in Serbia should consider A. vasorum in differential diagnosis of dogs.

Neospora caninum antibodies in dairy cows and domestic dogs from Vojvodina, Serbia.

Neospora caninum, the causative agent of neosporosis, is a protozoan parasite responsible for high rate of abortion in cattle worldwide. In dogs, consequences of infection vary from severe neuromuscular disorders to asymptomatic infection and shedding of environmentally resistant oocysts. In this study, we determined the occurrence of N. caninum antibodies in dairy cattle and dogs in Vojvodina (Northern Province of Serbia) and possible risk factors. N. caninum antibodies were found in 15.4% (55/356, CI 95%:12.0-19.6) of cows and 17.2% (17/99, CI 95%: 10.8-26.2) of dogs. Cows from smallholdings showed significantly greater odds (OR = 5.28, CI 95%: 2.0-13.6, p = 0.0006) of being seropositive in comparison to the farm cows. Epidemiological importance of results is discussed.