Serologic and pulmonary function tests were normal. It is transmitted through a mosquito bite; its main hosts include dogs and wild canids. Only 12 cases of human pulmonary dirofilariasis have so far been reported in Europe out of a world-wide total of about 180 cases [2,3]. Serologic tests, trans-thoracic fine-needle biopsy, bronchial washing, biopsy and sputum cytological analysis lack specificity for accurate diagnosis [10]. 1982 Mar; 31 (2):302308. Dirofilariasis can be prevented by avoiding mosquito bites in areas where mosquitoes may be infected with Dirofilaria larvae. Pulmonary dirofilariasis is a rare, zoonotic disease, caused by Dirofilaria immitis or Dirofilaria repens that is usually transmitted from dogs or other carnivores to humans by mosquitoes, with a tropical and subtropical distribution in Southern Europe, Asia, Australia and North and South America [1]. Can dirofilariasis be transmitted person-to-person? Many cats that survive this initial phase develop collateral blood supply, but histologically they have multiple small pulmonary arteries with villus endarteritis and multifocal areas with type II pneumocyte hyperplasia, which is indicative of chronic alveolar injury. Most persons with pulmonary dirofilariasis have no symptoms. was 51.4 years. The definitive mammalian hosts for Dirofilaria are primarily domestic dogs, wild canids (such as wolves and foxes), and raccoons. Microfilaremia has not been observed in humans. 4. The microfilariae are transmitted from the animal host to the human by several types of mosquitoes in the genera Aedes, Culex, and Anopheles. Jul-Sep 1993;53(3):366-71. (a) Canine lung with adult heartworms occluding the pulmonary artery. In humans, the adult worms cause subcutaneous granulomas in the conjunctiva, eyelid, oral mucosa, extremities, scrotum, breast, and other tissues. 4b). Trans-thoracic fine-needle aspiration showed necrotic lung parenchyma, but necrotic primitive or secondary lung neoplasm could not be excluded. The male-to-female ratio has been reported as 2:1 and 1:1 in two series. D. repens, not found in the United States, is the Dirofilaria species most commonly reported to cause human dirofilariasis in Europe. For dogs used in biomedical research, prevention is primarily via insect control and housing of the dogs in a controlled, indoor environment. as Dirofilaria. By continuing you agree to the use of cookies. If a research facility is conditioning random-source dogs for long-term use, the presence of circulating adult heartworm antigen should disqualify an animal from the conditioning program. The patients are generally asymptomatic, and a single pulmonary nodule from 1 to 3 cm is identified in the periphery of the lung on routine chest radiography [3,5,9]. 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