Original Article Epidemiological Aspects of Canine Dirofilariasis in the North of Iran

Background: Dirofilaria immitis is an important parasite in dog and other carnivores. Our objec-tive was study on incidence and periodicity of heartworm in north of Iran and using other meth-ods for its diagnosis in addition to Parasitology exam. Methods: This survey spanned two years, between 2006 and 2008. Blood samples were collected from 431 stray dogs distributed along north of Iran, the coastal areas of the Caspian Sea. The Knott’s modified test was used for diagnosis of D. immitis and other filariae. Meanwhile, the periodicity of microfilaria in peripheral blood circulation was calculated and the imaging diagno-sis techniques of four dogs that had positive results were done. Result: Diagnostic parasitology results indicated that 16.01 % of stray dogs were microfilaremic. Two different microfilariae were diagnosed: D. immitis in 13.69%, Dipetalonema reconditum in 1.86 % and in 0.46 % both of them. There was no statistically significant between infection to fiariae with sex and age of dogs. Also study on the periodicity of the presence of microfilaria in peripheral circulation showed that the highest rate of those was at 1 am and the lowest rate at 12 pm. Radiographic study showed distinctive signs with varied degrees of severity included: Tortu