Dirofilaria immitis infection in stray dogs of Khuzestan, a province inSouth-Western Iran

Dirofilaria immitis, which is otherwise known as heartworm, is an important parasite indogs and other carnivores. It lives in the right ventricle of the heart, the pulmonary artery and theposterior vena cava, and its microfilaria can be found in the peripheral circulation. This is thefirst report of infection in stray dogs in Khuzestan, a province in South-Western Iran. Blood samples from 119 stray dogs were collected randomly from differentdistricts of Khuzestan. The samples were examined by the modified Knott s method. Bloodmicrofilaria of were observed in 15 samples (12.61%). The most severeinfections were seen in 7-yr-old male dogs and also those in the Dezfool district. However,statistical analysis by the Chi-square method did not show a significant relationship between therate of infection and other factors, which included age, sex and geographical distribution. Asthis parasite can infect humans, the infection of dogs with in Khuzestan should becontrolled by the removal of the dogs and the vectors of are insects including flies.