Zoonoses causes lung problems (dirofilaria immitis)

Abstract

One of the most serious dangers to the health of dogs is canine heartworm, which causes congestive heart failure. Heartworm in dogs is caused by the Dirofilariaimmitis parasite, usually found in pulmonary arteries and the right ventricle of the heart. Canine dirofilariasis, also known as the heartworm disease, is caused by a nematode, the adult form of which is found in the right ventricle of the heart and pulmonary arteries of its definitive hosts, such as dogs. Three factors influence the spread of the disease: environmental factors, mainly temperature and humidity; the density of mosquito vectors, and the presence of competent definitive hosts where the parasite completes its development and reproduces. Dirofilariasis is transmitted by mosquitoes of the Aedes, Anopheles, Culex and Taeniorhynchus kind, and they could eventually affect human beings (zoonotic disease), who act as accidental hosts with a biological transmission through vectors, that is, through invertebrates to vertebrate animals or to human beings.