French heartworm
| French heartworm | ||||||||||||
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Angiostrongylus vasorum in a blood sample from a dog |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Angiostrongylus vasorum | ||||||||||||
| ( Baillet , 1866) |
The French heartworm ( Angiostrongylus vasorum ) is a parasite in dogs that affects the pulmonary vascular trunk, the pulmonary arteries and the right ventricle . The main final hosts of the parasite are foxes , but dogs , wolves , badgers , coyotes and small pandas are also attacked. Cats can be infected experimentally, but natural infections are unlikely to play a role. Adult worms are very thin (170–360 µm), 1.4 to 2 cm long, and pink. The disease that is triggered is known as angiostrongylosis .
Occurrence
Originally, the parasite was mainly found in France, Denmark and Great Britain. In Germany, the incidence of infestation has increased significantly for several years, with the south-west being particularly affected. It is also increasing in other regions of Europe and has meanwhile also been detected in South and North America, Australia and Africa as well as in the Asian part of Russia. Relatively small regional herds (clusters) with an increased incidence of the parasite are typical in the endemic areas.
A German study showed an infection rate of 7.4% in 810 examined dogs with unexplained lung symptoms. Overall, the prevalence has risen from 0.1 to 0.5% in recent years. An infestation frequency of 27% was determined for foxes in Rhineland-Palatinate, 19% in Hesse and 8% in Thuringia.
Development cycle
The prepatency varies between 35 and 60 days. Female worms lay undifferentiated eggs, which enter the pulmonary capillaries via the bloodstream, where larvae 1 hatch and migrate to the lower airways. The larvae are coughed up, swallowed and excreted with the feces. The elimination period (patent) is up to 5 years. In intermediate hosts (different types of snail ) they develop into infectious larva 3. Occasionally frogs also serve as paratenic hosts. If the dog eats an intermediate or paratenic host, the larvae 3 penetrate the intestinal wall and develop in the lymph nodes of the abdominal cavity . Larval stage 3 can also actively emerge from the snails and survive in a moist environment for up to 15 days, so that infection through the ingestion of grass and dew is possible. After infection, the larvae pass through the portal vein , liver and posterior vena cava into the right ventricle and the pulmonary arteries, where they molt to the adult worms.
literature
- Dieter Barutzki et al .: Angiostrongylus vasorum in dogs: current data on the spread in Germany and new findings on prophylaxis and therapy. In: Parasiten Spezial 1/2010, pp. 9-14.
- GA Conboy (2000): Canine Angiostrongylosis (French Heartworm) (PDF; 36 kB). International Veterinary Information Service
- ↑ a b c D. Barutzki: Nematode infections of the respiratory tract in dogs in Germany. In: Tierärztl. Praxis Kleintiere 41 (2013), pp. 326–336.
- ↑ K. Schug, F. Krämer, R. Schaper, J. Hirzmann, K. Failing, C. Hermosilla, A. Taubert: Prevalence survey on lungworm (Angiostrongylus vasorum, Crenosoma vulpis, Eucoleus aerophilus) infections of wild red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in central Germany. In: Parasites & vectors. Volume 11, number 1, February 2018, p. 85, doi : 10.1186 / s13071-018-2672-4 , PMID 29409523 , PMC 5801722 (free full text).
Web links
- Autopsy of a dog who died of A. vasorum