A study of the specific polymerase chain reaction for dirofilariasis in dogs and cats by using specific primers of Wolbachia spp.

• Main Authors: Chao-Chun Cheng, 鄭兆君
• Other Authors: Chang-Young Fei
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/81315945814473861867

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 獸醫學研究所 === 95 === Abstract The heartworm, Dirofilaria immitis, is a mosquito-borne pathogenic parasite of canids. It has also been found in other animals, such as seals, raccoons, as well as cats. The adult worms normally habitat in the right ventricle and pulmonary arteries. Cats usually tend to harbor very few and unisex adult worms and thus usually to remain amicrofilaremic. Additionally, cats usually fall victims to sudden death as a result of aberrantly migrating heatworms. Consequently, there is hardly reliable diagnostic method capable to identify the status of infection. Wolbachia is an obligate endosymbiont bacteria harbored by many arthropods and filarial worms, including D. immitis. The first description of Wol. spp. was made in 1924, when it was detected in the ovaries of the mosquito Culex pipiens and classified as an unnamed Rickettsia. All isolates of filarial parasites studied so far by PCR are infected with this bacteria. We develop nucleotide diagnostic technique of dirofilariasis in cat and dog by study the relationships between Wol. spp. and D. immitis . The purpose of the study contain: (1) Prevalance survey of cat and dog dirofilariasis. (2) Try to construct a clinical diagnostic technique of D.immitis infection in cat by PCR.