ORIGINAL PAPER Dirofilaria immitis infection in dogs: unusually located and unusual findings Feride Kircali Sevimli & Esma Kozan & Aziz Bülbül & Fatih Mehmet Birdane & Mustafa Köse & Alper Sevimli Received: 18 May 2007 / Revised: 27 June 2007 / Accepted: 2 July 2007 / Published online: 22 July 2007 # Springer-Verlag 2007 Abstract Clinical, blood, serum biochemistry, and parasi- tological assessments were performed on four hospitalized dogs, not in good general condition, in a study carried out to determine the prevalence of general parasitic infections. Hematological and biochemical parameters and electrocar- diographic recording of the animals were determined during the general clinical examinations. Four dogs were indicated to have been infected with Dirofilaria immitis by using modified Knott’ s method, and the microfilarial density was determined. Mild to moderate anemia and decrease in sedimentation velocity were established in dogs. Differ- ences in other hematological and biochemical values between the dogs were determined. Right axis deviation was determined in a dog. D. immitis was encountered in the right ventricle, bronchus, and the pericardial sac at the end of the necropsy. On the other hand, in the histopathological examinations, pulmonary adenocarcinoma deriving from bronchial epithelium was identified in a dog, and microfi- laria was encountered in bronchial and bronchiolar lumens, interstitium of the lungs, and bile ducts. D. immitis has not been considered in the diagnosis of dogs with pneumonia and tumors. The requirement of parasitological examination with respect to D. immitis in the diagnosis of dogs with tumor or pneumonia has been considered vital. Introduction Dirofilaria immitis is a zoonotic infection transmitted by various mosquito species and generally resides in the pulmonary arteries and the right ventricle of the heart of dogs and other canideas (Neafie et al. 1976; Bain and Chabaud 1986; Rawlings 1986; Dillon 2000). Many organs such as the lungs, heart, liver, and kidney may be affected by the infection (Rawlings 1986; Lombard 1987). The most important damage is seen in the pulmonary arteries, the right ventricle of the heart, and the kidneys (Rawlings 1986; Lombard 1987; Rawlings and Calvert 1989; Kaiser and Williams 2004). There have been both epidemiological and experimental and clinical case studies (Rawlings 1986; Sato et al. 1994; Kaiser and Williams 2004; Manuali et al. 2005; Venco et al. 2005) focusing on the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical, and serum findings of the D. immitis infection. Clinical (Dillon 2000), serum, and blood (Venco et al. 2005) findings have been playing an important role in the iden- tification of the host–parasite relationship during the infection of D. immitis. While no symptoms because of the intensity of infection and individual reaction are observed in some of the infected dogs (Venco et al. 2005), clinical symptoms have been gradually developing in some ani- Parasitol Res (2007) 101:1487–1494 DOI 10.1007/s00436-007-0665-x F. K. Sevimli (*) : E. Kozan : M. Köse Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Ahmet Necdet Sezer Kampusu, 03200 Afyonkarahisar, Turkey e-mail: feridekircali@aku.edu.tr A. Bülbül Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, 03200 Afyonkarahisar, Turkey F. M. Birdane Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, 03200 Afyonkarahisar, Turkey A. Sevimli Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, 03200 Afyonkarahisar, Turkey