Dirofilaria immitis is endemic in rural areas of the Brazilian Amazonas state capital, Manaus.
Ulysses Carvalho BarbosaAlessandra Ferreira Dales NavaJosé Vicente Ferreira NetoCindy Alves DiasViviane Costa da SilvaHugo Guimarães de MesquitaRaquel Telles de Moreira SampaioWanilze Gonçalves BarrosEmanuelle de Sousa FariasTullio Romão Ribeiro da SilvaJames Lee CraineyWanderli Pedro TadeiHector Henrique Ferreira KoolenFelipe Arley Costa PessoaPublished in: Revista brasileira de parasitologia veterinaria = Brazilian journal of veterinary parasitology : Orgao Oficial do Colegio Brasileiro de Parasitologia Veterinaria (2023)
The canine filarial parasite Dirofilaria immitis has not been reported in Brazil´s Amazonas state capital, Manaus, for over a century. Here, we report one imported and 27 autochthonous D. immitis infections from a microfilarial survey of 766 domestic dog blood samples collected between 2017 and 2021 in Manaus. An Overall prevalence estimate of 15.44% (23/149) was calculated from our two rural collection sites; a prevalence of 1.22% (4/328) was estimated at our periurban collection site, and an overall prevalence of 0.35% (1/289) was calculated from our two urban clinic collections. Our data suggest that in the urban areas of Manaus, where the parasites are very likely vectored by the same species of mosquito that historically vectored Wuchereria bancrofti (Culex quinquefasciatus), prevalence levels are very low and possibly maintained by an influx from rural areas where sylvatic reservoirs and/or more favorable vector transmission dynamics maintain high prevalences.