{"doi":"10.3389/fvets.2023.1112036","title":"Emerging risk of Dirofilaria spp. infection in shelter dogs in southern Italy","abstract":"<jats:p>In southern Italy, the number of autochthonous cases of <jats:italic>Dirofilaria immitis</jats:italic> in dogs has increased considerably. This also occurs in the Campania region, particularly in coastal areas, where infections with <jats:italic>D. immitis</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Dirofilaria repens</jats:italic> have been reported more frequently. Therefore the aim of the present study was to better investigate the occurrence of <jats:italic>Dirofilaria</jats:italic> spp. in a local dog shelter in Castel Volturno (Campania region, southern Italy). Briefly, a total of 260 blood samples were analysed for identification of microfilariae (mff) and detection of <jats:italic>Dirofilaria immitis</jats:italic> antigen. Dogs were classified according to their age (1–3  years; 4–6  years; 7–11  years; &amp;gt; 11  years) and length of stay in the shelter at the time of sampling (dogs that entered in the shelter in the last 4  months; dogs housed in the shelter for more than 4 months up to 2  years; dogs housed for more than 2  years). The modified Knott’s test revealed that 195 dogs (75.0%) were positive for circulating mff of <jats:italic>Dirofilaria</jats:italic> spp. Specifically, 104/260 (40.0%) dogs were positive for <jats:italic>D. immitis</jats:italic> and 91/260 (35.0%) were positive for <jats:italic>D. repens</jats:italic>. In addition, 72/260 (27.7%) dogs had both <jats:italic>D. immitis</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>D. repens</jats:italic> mff. Antigen testing revealed that 78/260 (30.0%) dogs were positive for <jats:italic>D. immitis</jats:italic>. However, 26/104 (25.0%) of the dogs with <jats:italic>D. immitis</jats:italic> mff were antigen-negative. The overall k concordance between the modified Knott’s test and the antigenic test was ≤0.2 (poor) (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.000). The results of the logistic regression model showed a significant association between <jats:italic>Dirofilaria</jats:italic> exposure and the period of time the dogs had spent in the shelter at the time of sampling. Dogs housed in the shelter for 4 months (group 1) and between 4 months and 2 years (group 2) had higher <jats:italic>Dirofilaria</jats:italic> positivity than dogs in group 3 (housed for more than 2 years) (80.4% vs. 79.6% vs. 62.4%, respectively). Moreover, male dogs and older dogs (between 7 and 11 years of age) were more likely to be infected with <jats:italic>Dirofilaria</jats:italic> spp.</jats:p>","journal":"Frontiers in Veterinary Science","year":2023,"id":23853,"datarank":0.396981925840846,"base_score":1.9459101490553132,"endowment":1.9459101490553132,"self_citation_contribution":0.29188652235829704,"citation_network_contribution":0.10509540348254896,"self_endowment_contribution":0.29188652235829704,"citer_contribution":0.10509540348254896,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":6,"citer_count":6,"citers_with_citation_signal":4,"citers_with_endowment":4,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":144966,"name":"Valeria Caruso","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":144967,"name":"Sergio Illiano","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":144968,"name":"Antonio Bosco","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":144969,"name":"Maria Paola Maurelli","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":143958,"name":"Laura Rinaldi","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":144965,"name":"Lavinia Ciuca","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"base_score":1.9459101490553132,"endowment":1.9459101490553132,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"37483291","pmcid":"PMC10357286","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W4383374849","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":1.1232,"citation_percentile":0.76615754,"influential_citations":1,"citation_trend":[{"year":2024,"count":2},{"year":2025,"count":4}],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2023.1112036/pdf","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2023.1112036/pdf","host_type":"GOLD"},{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2023.1112036/pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2023.1112036/full","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1112036","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37483291","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/10357286","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://doaj.org/article/be72e225449b413b83a3a0f0a882b590","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10357286/pdf/fvets-10-1112036.pdf","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC10357286","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC10357286?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":["Parasitic Diseases Research and Treatment","Parasites and Host Interactions","Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences","Medicine","Environmental Science"],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":["Dirofilaria immitis","Dirofilaria repens","Dirofilariasis","Repens","Dirofilaria","Veterinary medicine","Biology","Medicine","Helminths","Immunology","Southern Italy","Shelter Dogs","Zoonotic Risk"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Life below water"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-06-07T20:43:12.360122Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}