Thelazia callipaeda in Slovakia - From sporadic cases to endemic areas.

Spirurid nematode Thelazia callipaeda, transmitted by the fruit fly Phortica variegata, is a causative agent of an ocular parasitic disease called also canine thelaziosis. Dogs, cats, and wild canids are considered the primary definitive hosts for the parasite, but humans may also serve as aberrant definitive hosts. For long decades the geographic range of T. callipaeda was strictly limited to the territory of Asia, but after the year 2000, the parasite began to spread rapidly through Europe. The first autochthonous infections of dogs and foxes in Slovakia were recorded in 2016. In the present study, the results of a whole-area surveillance for canine thelaziosis are reported. Altogether, 142 cases of infection caused by T. callipaeda were diagnosed by veterinarians in dogs between 2016 and the first quarter of 2021, and two cases of feline thelaziosis were recorded. The majority of the dogs showed mild ocular signs manifested by conjunctivitis; 8.5% of them suffered from more serious mucopurulent discharge, and in two dogs corneal ulceration was recorded. The screening revealed increasing trends in the occurrence of canine thelaziosis from both a temporal and spatial point of view and unambiguously confirms the endemic status of T. callipaeda in Slovakia with the prospect of its further expansion.

Urbanization impact on mosquito community and the transmission potential of filarial infection in central Europe.

BACKGROUND: Despite long-term research on dirofilariosis in Slovakia, little attention has thus far been paid to Dirofilaria vectors. The particular aim of the present study was molecular screening for filarioid parasites in two different habitats of Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. In addition, the effect of urbanisation on mosquito species abundance and composition, associated with the risk of mosquito-borne infections, was studied and discussed. METHODS: Mosquitoes were identified by morphological features, and molecular methods were also used for determination of selected individuals belonging to cryptic species from the Anopheles maculipennis and Culex pipiens complexes. The presence of filarioid DNA (Dirofilaria repens, Dirofilaria immitis and Setaria spp.) was detected using standard PCR approaches and sequencing. RESULTS: A total of 6957 female mosquitoes were collected for the study. Overall, the most abundant mosquito species was Aedes vexans, closely followed by unidentified members of the Cx. pipiens complex and the less numerous but still plentiful Ochlerotatus sticticus species. Further investigation of mosquito material revealed 4.26% relative prevalence of Dirofilaria spp., whereby both species, D. repens and D. immitis, were identified. The majority of positive mosquito pools had their origin in a floodplain area on the outskirts of the city, with a relative prevalence of 5.32%; only two mosquito pools (1.26%) were shown to be positive in the residential zone of Bratislava. Setaria spp. DNA was not detected in mosquitoes within this study. CONCLUSIONS: The study presented herein represents initial research focused on molecular mosquito screening for filarioid parasites in urban and urban-fringe habitats of Bratislava, Slovakia. Molecular analyses within the Cx. pipiens complex identified two biotypes: Cx. pipiens biotype pipiens and Cx. pipiens biotype molestus. To our knowledge, Dirofilaria spp. were detected for the first time in Slovakia in mosquitoes other than Ae. vexans, i.e. D. repens in Anopheles messeae and unidentified members of An. maculipennis and Cx. pipiens complexes, and D. immitis in Coquillettidia richiardii and Cx. pipiens biotype pipiens. Both dirofilarial species were found in Och. sticticus. The suitable conditions for the vectors' biology would represent the main risk factor for dirofilariosis transmission.

Canine dirofilariosis endemic in Central Europe-10 years of epidemiological study in Slovakia.

The study presents the comprehensive results of a detailed epidemiological study on canine dirofilariosis in Slovakia, Central Europe. More than 4000 dogs were investigated, and several epidemiological factors were considered. The mean prevalence in individual regions ranged from 2.0 % in northern Slovakia to more than 25.0 % in the south-western part of the country, with the nematode Dirofilaria repens confirmed as the dominant causative agent. Canine dirofilariosis occurred more often in animals more than 3 years old and in dogs of large and giant breed sizes. Short-haired animals were infected more often than dogs with a long coat. Also, the infection was significantly more prevalent in animals kept in rural areas in comparison with urban environments.Counts of microfilariae (mf) in peripheral blood reached their highest levels in May and August and corresponded to activity peaks and population maximums of potential vectors, the mosquito species Aedes vexans and Culex pipiens, the two most prevalent species in Slovakia. Moreover, two dogs naturally infested with D. repens were included in the experiment in order to monitor daily microfilarial periodicity. This fluctuation showed the same tendency in both animals, with a peak of circulating mf recorded at 4 a.m. and minimal mf counts at 4 p.m.

Fauna Europaea - all European animal species on the web.

Fauna Europaea is Europe's main zoological taxonomic index, making the scientific names and distributions of all living, currently known, multicellular, European land and freshwater animals species integrally available in one authoritative database. Fauna Europaea covers about 260,000 taxon names, including 145,000 accepted (sub)species, assembled by a large network of (>400) leading specialists, using advanced electronic tools for data collations with data quality assured through sophisticated validation routines. Fauna Europaea started in 2000 as an EC funded FP5 project and provides a unique taxonomic reference for many user-groups such as scientists, governments, industries, nature conservation communities and educational programs. Fauna Europaea was formally accepted as an INSPIRE standard for Europe, as part of the European Taxonomic Backbone established in PESI. Fauna Europaea provides a public web portal at faunaeur.org with links to other key biodiversity services, is installed as a taxonomic backbone in wide range of biodiversity services and actively contributes to biodiversity informatics innovations in various initiatives and EC programs.