Temperature-bounded development of Dirofilaria immitis larvae restricts the geographical distribution and seasonality of its transmission: case study and decision support system for canine heartworm management in Australia.
Files
(Published version)
Date
2024
Authors
Atkinson, P.J.
Stevenson, M.
O'Handley, R.
Nielsen, T.
Caraguel, C.G.B.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
International Journal for Parasitology, 2024; 54(6):311-319
Statement of Responsibility
Peter J. Atkinson, Mark Stevenson, Ryan O'Handley, Torben Nielsen, Charles G. B. Caraguel
Conference Name
Abstract
Dirofilaria immitis is the causative agent of canine heartworm disease. We used the established heartworm development unit (HDU) principle to map the extrinsic incubation period (EIP) of D. immitis in Australia using historical weather data from 2013–2022. We found weather conditions suitable for EIP completion showed substantial seasonality and geographical variability. Whilst a considerable percentage of the Australian territory showed suitable weather conditions to always support EIP completion (17%), only 2.7% of the 2021 Australian human population lived in this region. Therefore, 97% of the population lived in an area that changed its EIP suitability within the study period. EIP completion is required prior to D. immitis transmission, meaning that infection risk of D. immitis is seasonal and locationdependent, being disrupted each year for most of the human population’s dogs. We developed an online, open access tool allowing us to visualise EIP completion across Australia historically and in near realtime. We aim to support veterinarians to make risk-based recommendations for dirofilariosis prevention by using the tool, available at https://heartworm-mapping.adelaide.edu.au/shiny/.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Access Status
Rights
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Australian Society for Parasitology. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).