heartworm prevalence by zip code

Mosquito diversity and dog heartworm prevalence in suburban areas Author: Meredith R. Spence Beaulieu, Jennifer L. Federico, Michael H. Reiskind Source: Parasites & vectors 2020 v.13 no.1 pp. Urban and suburban areas throughout much of the USA are dominated by the peridomestic Aedes albopictus, which is a competent vector of D. immitis [20]. Briefly, we identified suburban neighborhoods of various ages throughout Wake County, NC, USA using Google Earth historical images [27], taking the year of first evidence of construction as the year the neighborhood was built. Zip codes where clinics have obtained at least one positive feline heartworm antibody result. example@example.com. Lights were removed from the CDC light traps to reduce by-catch. As with the KruskalWallis test, we again performed this test for land-use type both with and without neighborhood age categories as levels within the broader suburban category. We investigated this question using the dog heartworm, a filarial parasite vectored by numerous mosquito species. Med Vet Entomol. While it is possible to use the survey data to make rough projections regarding heartworm prevalence, it is impossible to know exactly how many pets in the U.S. are infected with heartworms at any given time. Importantly, the parasite is naturally vectored by at least 25 mosquito species in the USA [20] and even greater numbers of species worldwide with varying vectorial capacities. Menu. 2014;28(Suppl. official website and that any information you provide is encrypted a Heartworm prevalence within dogs ranged from 3.77% to 15.64% within zip codes where mosquitoes were sampled. Testing data from thousands of veterinary practices and shelters is used to create a detailed map showing the average number of heartworm-positive cases per clinic. Top Companion Anim Med. While acknowledging these important caveats, the AHS hypothesized a conservative estimate of heartworm prevalence via the following calculations: Figure 2. The Pandemic Effects on Heartworm Prevention. Given that the majority of zip codes had a within-mosquito heartworm prevalence of 0% due to our low number of positive pools, we also performed a Welchs t-test comparing the within-host heartworm prevalence by the presence or absence of heartworm-positive mosquito pools within a given zip code. All pools that were positive for D. immitis DNA were those of mosquito species known to be competent heartworm vectors [20], so we assume that any positive mosquito pool represents potential transmission. We found that suburban areas generally had the lowest within-mosquito heartworm prevalence, and that mosquito diversity was positively correlated with heartworm prevalence within the canine host. Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Diversity and Community Structure in Doi Inthanon National Park, Northern Thailand. In 2001, the national estimate for heartworm-positive dogs was just under 900. Parasit Vectors. Discrimination between six species of canine microfilariae by a single polymerase chain reaction. The prevalence in undeveloped wooded sites did not significantly differ from that in either suburban (Z=0.630, P=1.0) or field sites (Z=1.884, P=0.179). Heartworm incidence in the continental U.S. and Hawaii based on the 2016 AHS Heartworm Incidence Survey. For both suburban and urban areas generally, anthropogenic disturbance is also associated with increased abundance of vectors of human disease, including container-breeding Aedes that transmit dengue, Zika, or chikungunya viruses, and Culex mosquitoes, which transmit West Nile virus and human filarial pathogens [10, 11, 13, 14]. Keywords: 2017;31:4454. Within-host heartworm prevalence increases with mosquito diversity measures. The goal of the column is to communicate practical and timely information on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heartworm disease, as well as highlight current topics related to heartworm research and findings in veterinary medicine. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Find out what the heartworm prevalence is in your own zip code: Check out our disease prevalence maps here> Mosquitoes, Dogs and Heartworm Disease albopictus populations in North Carolina are rare, but have suggested that it is likely not a suitable vector for D. immitis in North Carolina [42]. He lectures nationally and internationally and has provided more than 950 hours of CE. Becker B, Leisnham P, LaDeau SL. Future studies could partner with local veterinarians to get finer scale host data, as collection of detailed travel history for newly heartworm-positive dogs would allow for more definitive mapping of spatial and temporal host-level incidence trends. Zip code-level data used for comparative analyses, including heartworm prevalence within the canine host, can be found in "byzip." Data details are included in the read me file. Can your zip code make a difference in the level of risk for heartworms? It has been suggested that coyotes are the most significant heartworm reservoirs in North America, with prevalence between 6.5 and 71% nationwide [43] and approximately 47% in North Carolina [44]. After extraction, we quantified the DNA concentration using the Qubit 2.0 Fluorometer (Invitrogen, Life Technologies Corporation, Waltham, MA, USA), accepting any sample with greater than 0.01ng/l of DNA for further analysis. Species-level heartworm prevalence by land-use, Species-level heartworm prevalence by land-use type. Mosquito diversity and dog heartworm prevalence in suburban areas, $$L\left( {p_{i} } \right) = \left( {\left( {1 - p_{i} } \right)^{{n_{i\,j} }} } \right)^{{\left( {1 - y_{i\,j} } \right)}} *\left( {1 - \left( {1 - p_{i} } \right)^{{n_{i\,j} }} } \right)^{{y_{i\,j} }}$$, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-019-3874-0, https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.9339302.v1, https://www.heartwormsociety.org/veterinary-resources/incidence-maps, http://www.cdc.gov/westnile/resourcepages/mosqSurvSoft.html/, https://github.com/arilamstein/choroplethrZip, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. 2016;158:197200. Fully mature adults at 6.5 months after infection reach lengths of 15-18 cm (5-6 in) for males and 25-30 cm (10-12 in) for females. A tale of two city blocks: differences in immature and adult mosquito abundances between socioeconomically different urban blocks in Baltimore (Maryland, USA). #heartworms #pethealth https://t.co/3tjbH, RT @AHS_Think12: MYTH: My dog is on heartworm preventative, so he doesn't need to be tested. 2012;5:245. Percent positive pools by species is presented, with bars color-coded to denote the land-use type where the positive pool originated. Alabama: University of Alabama Press; 2013. Accessed 12 Jun 2019. We stored the extracted DNA at 20C until the time of further analysis. Make sure they are always protected. Field sites had greater D. immitis prevalence than did suburban sites (Dunns test: Z=2.925, P=0.010), but prevalence at wooded sites did not differ from that at suburban sites (Dunns test: Z=0.630, P=1.0) (Fig. Our results demonstrate that decreases in mosquito diversity due to urbanization alter vector-borne disease risk. Because of their inability to be infectious for D. immitis, we excluded males and nulliparous females from further analysis. 2015;51:6649. After excluding males and nulliparous females as previously described, 8483 individuals in 2488 pools were tested for the presence of D. immitis DNA. As the percentage of mosquitoes in the area that have previously laid eggs (and therefore previously taken a blood meal) increases, D. immitis presence in mosquitoes also increases, reaffirming that older mosquitoes are the most dangerous from a disease transmission standpoint due to their greater probability of prior pathogen exposure. Heartworm Lifecycle. Med Vet Entomol. Eight mosquito species had pools that tested positive for Dirofilaria immitis. Given the mobility of society today, as well as the need to relocate animals due to natural disasters or animal homelessness, the transport of pet animals is a fact of life in U.S. veterinary practices today. 229 S 300 E PROVO UT 84606-4743. 2011;26:17885. J Med Entomol. Dog heartworm disease is global in distribution and is likely the most common vector-borne disease in the USA, with prevalence in domestic dogs between 112.5% on average nationwide [17], but as high as 48.8% in certain highly endemic regions following natural disasters, like the Gulf Coast post-Hurricane Katrina [18]. salinarius, Ae. Effects of landscape anthropization on mosquito community composition and abundance. The datasets analyzed during the present study are available in the Figshare repository: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.9339302.v1. A significant positive correlation was, MeSH Copyright 2023 American Heartworm Society. Our results demonstrate that decreases in mosquito diversity due to urbanization alter vector-borne disease risk. We acquired data from the Wake County Animal Center on all dogs entering the shelter either as an owner surrender or as a captured stray between January 2010 and October 2015. With regard to socioeconomic status, we found support for our prediction of a negative relationship with heartworm prevalence within the host. Of respondents participating in the AHS survey, 26% reported seeing more heartworm cases in 2019 versus 2016, while 16% reported a decline in their practice areas. In addition, adherence to the AHS/ASV recommendations on animal transport by veterinarians, shelters, and rescue organizations can help minimize the chance that heartworm-positive pets moved from one part of the country to another do not become reservoirs for heartworm infection in their new homes. Privacy doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2016.03.008. Multistate Hatch Project MS-1443/1943/USDA, Sinka ME, Bangs MJ, Manguin S, Coetzee M, Mbogo CM, Hemingway J, et al. All samples and controls were run in duplicates to ensure accuracy of results. The association between decreased mosquito diversity and decreased heartworm prevalence exists despite the fact that the dominant mosquito species in the sampled suburban areas (e.g. Positive pools were confirmed via sequencing, with all pools aligning to a portion of the D. immitis mitochondrion [33]. pipiens, Anopheles quadrimaculatus, Culex erraticus and Ae. Wild host densities are not assessed in this study, but could play an important role in the heartworm transmission dynamics for domestic dogs, particularly if wild hosts that typically serve as primary D. immitis reservoirs are excluded from highly urbanized areas. MRSB analyzed and interpreted the data and prepared the original manuscript. a, Within-host heartworm prevalence increases with, Within-host heartworm prevalence increases with mosquito diversity measures. albopictus. We cannot assess spatial trends for D. immitis within mosquitoes due to low overall prevalence (Fig. sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal Trends Parasitol. 4b). Disease ecology; Diversity; Heartworm; Landscape; Mosquito; Urbanization; Vector. Terms and Conditions, Fryxell RTT, Lewis TT, Peace H, Hendricks BB, Paulsen D. Identification of avian malaria (Plasmodium sp.) Article PubMed Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing; 2018. https://www.R-project.org/. By Sarah Ashley Published May 16, 2019 All 50 states have had confirmed cases of heartworm since the disease's discovery back in 1856. We compared within-mosquito heartworm infection across land-use types by Kruskal-Wallis and likelihood ratio tests. Modified DNA extraction protocols used with both the DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit (Qiagen, Venlo, Netherlands) and the ZR Genomic DNA-Tissue MiniPrep (Zymo Research, Irvine, CA, USA). It was revealed the top 5 states for heartworm incidence were Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Alabamaall states that have been in the top 10 states since the AHS began tracking incidence data in 2002. Mosquitoes used for analysis in this study were previously sampled and the effects of suburban development on mosquito diversity were previously assessed in Spence Beaulieu et al. Using zip code level data acquired from dogs in a local shelter, we performed linear regressions of within-host heartworm prevalence by within-mosquito heartworm prevalence as well as by three mosquito diversity measures. No state in the U.S. is heartworm-free, according to the AHS survey. The results of the AHS Incidence Survey represent a mix of both bad and good news. These data contained the results of the heartworm test performed at the time of intake as well as the zip code of the prior owner or location of capture. McTier, T.L., Kryda, K., Wachowski, M. et al. Instead, our results suggest a positive relationship between mosquito diversity and disease transmission, as has been found in the limited existing studies investigating the effects of diversity within disease systems with multiple vectors [5, 6, 16]. 3). Parasit Vectors. If you are not sure of the full 9-digit ZIP Code, use the 5-digit ZIP Code to avoid loss of letter or package. Careers. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. The earliest D. immitis-positive pool of mosquitoes was collected during the first week of June, which coincided with the beginning of our trapping season, and the latest D. immitis-positive pool of mosquitoes was collected during the third week of October. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. Annu Rev Entomol. Due to low overall numbers of Dirofilaria immitis-positive mosquito pools across all trapping sites, many zip codes had no detected within-mosquito heartworm infection. An important factor is that heartworm diagnosis requires one or more blood tests that must be conducted in a veterinary clinic and/or reference laboratory, which limits diagnoses to patients seen in clinics and animal shelters. A similar study of D. immitis prevalence within mosquitoes in an urbanized area of Oklahoma, USA found that urban sites had significantly higher heartworm infection rates than rural sites and implicated Ae. 2011 Nov;26(4):178-85. doi: 10.1053/j.tcam.2011.09.005. Studies investigating socioeconomic gradients have variably shown greater mosquito prevalence in lower income neighborhoods [23, 24] and in higher income neighborhoods [25], as well as no effect on mosquito densities [26]. Dr. Brian Calabro shares his approach to diagnosis, client education, New Approaches and Protocols for Heartworm Disease Presented at 17th Triennial Heartworm Symposium. Almost 6000 veterinary practices and shelters participated in the AHS survey in early 2020. The recipient address information is provided for your reference. Brown HE, Harrington LC, Kaufman PE, McKay T, Bowman DD, Nelson CT, et al. 2003;40:78594. Methods: 2003;127:3751. albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito, which constituted 41.9% of the overall abundance, followed by Culex salinarius and Aedes vexans with 13.9% and 8.3%, respectively. Before We acquired median household income by zip code from the 20132017 American Community Survey using U.S. Census Bureaus American FactFinder tool [37] to investigate whether D. immitis prevalence within dogs and socioeconomic status is correlated. Would you like email updates of new search results? Within the canine host, the adult heartworm resides in the pulmonary arteries and the heart, causing respiratory distress and eventually congestive heart failure [17]. Ecological drivers of dog heartworm transmission in California. Ecohealth. Make an appointment. A brief introduction to mixed effects modelling and multi-model inference in ecology. The mosquitoes implicated as heartworm vectors within suburban areas in this study were Ps. "At the beginning of spring 2020, many veterinarians saw a drop in wellness visits and heartworm Veterinary Treatment Facility reminds pet owners of heartworm disease risks. Mean prevalence and standard error of the mean are presented for each land-use type. The recipient address information is provided for your reference. Texas. Parasit Vectors. Suburban areas had lower within-mosquito heartworm prevalence and lower likelihood of heartworm-positive mosquitoes than did undeveloped field sites, although no differences were seen between suburban and undeveloped wooded sites. Comparative Vector Efficiency of Two Prevalent Mosquito Species for Dog Heartworm in North Carolina. CAS Mosquitoes acquire microfilaria, the mosquito-infective parasite stage, upon ingestion of a blood meal from an infectious canine host. United States Census Bureau. The AHS released the results of the most recent survey, which reflects testing results from the 2019 calendar year. 2017;6:e22053. In a separate facility, we extracted DNA from each pool using either the DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit (Qiagen, Venlo, Netherlands) or the ZR Genomic DNA-Tissue MiniPrep (Zymo Research, Irvine, CA, USA). High prevalence of canine heartworm, Dirofilaria immitis, in pet dogs in south Texas, USA, with evidence of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes contributing to transmission. Comparison of within-mosquito heartworm prevalence by land-use type. This approach sought to assess whether the heartworm status of mosquitoes was a reliable predictor of infection status within the host. PubMed Central Suburban sites had significantly lower D. immitis prevalence than did undeveloped field sites (Z=2.925, P=0.010). 2023 BioMed Central Ltd unless otherwise stated. PubMed Central Google Scholar. Med Vet Entomol. Land use influences mosquito communities and disease risk on remote tropical islands: a case study using a novel sampling technique. J Med Entomol. Evans MV, Dallas TA, Han BA, Murdock CC, Drake JM. 2013;27:4219. Using zip code level data acquired from dogs in a local shelter, we performed linear regressions of within-host heartworm prevalence by within-mosquito heartworm prevalence as well as by three mosquito diversity measures. First Name Last Name. 2014;4:40933. This study contributes to better understanding of the effects of urbanization and the role of vector diversity in multi-vectored pathosystems. Spatial and temporal patterns of abundance of Aedes aegypti L. (Stegomyia aegypti) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) [Stegomyia albopictus (Skuse)] in southern Florida. 2022 May 3;10:872812. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.872812. May 16, 2019, 6:04 AM. 2021 Sep 9;14(1):464. doi: 10.1186/s13071-021-04958-1. Results: Incidence maps. With regard to dog heartworm disease, this loss of mosquito diversity is associated with decreased heartworm prevalence within both the vector and the host. No relationships were noted between within-mosquito and within-host heartworm prevalence.