©2019 Institute of Parasitology, SAS, Košice DOI 10.2478/helm-2019-0033 HELMINTHOLOGIA, 56, 4: 329 – 333, 2019 Research Note Stray dogs of Sofi a (Bulgaria) could be an important reservoir of heartworm (Dirofi laria immitis) H. STOYANOVA1, E. CARRETÓN2*, J. A. MONTOYA-ALONSO2 1Ashleigh Veterinary Centre, M16 0DE- Manchester, United Kingdom. E-mail:
[email protected]; 2Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences (IUIBS), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35001-Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, E-mail: *
[email protected],
[email protected] Article info Summary Received July 13, 2019 Dirofi laria immitis (heartworm) is a zoonotic and an emerging disease, expanding in Europe. In Bul- Accepted September 5, 2019 garia, the presence of the parasite has been described in many regions. However, canine heartworm has hardly been evaluated in the capital of the country and, therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and distribution of canine heartworm in Sofi a. Eighty stray dogs from the city of Sofi a and the metropolitan area were analysed for circulatingD. immitis antigens. The prevalence was 31.25 %, being 34.7 % in the metropolitan area and 25.8 % in the city of Sofi a. The current results are among the highest reported in the country. This could be due to the lack of prophylactic measures against infection in these dogs, but also to the spread of D. immitis into non-endemic countries. Stray dogs may act as an important reservoir of heartworm being a risk for client-owned animals and for the development of pulmonary dirofi lariosis in inhabitants.