Institute of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Leipzig, An den Tierkliniken 35, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Institute of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Leipzig, An den Tierkliniken 35, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Institute of Veterinary Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Leipzig, An den Tierkliniken 43, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Vet Parasitol Reg Stud Reports. 2022 May;30:100717. doi: 10.1016/j.vprsr.2022.100717. Epub 2022 Mar 8.
Linguatula serrata is a worm-like parasite with zoonotic potential that inhabits the nasal cavities of canids. Although most cases of linguatulosis are associated with unspecific and rather mild respiratory symptoms, cases of unusual infestations and severe courses in both animals and humans have been reported. In central and northern Europe, the pathogen used to appear only sporadically, however, within the last few years the number of detections has increased noticeably. In July 2020 an approximately nine-month-old dog, imported from Romania, was presented in a veterinary practice in Gotha, central Germany, due to persistent worsening cough. Despite antibiotic treatment the tussis became more severe until the dog expectorated multiple worm-like structures. Three of these specimens were sent to the Institute of Parasitology (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig) for morphological and genetic species identification. The latter was based on a 1000-bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (cox1) and the complete nuclear 18S rRNA gene. The dog presented in this study suffered from a severe respiratory impairment caused by worm-like parasites inhabiting its upper respiratory tract. The detected parasites were morphologically identified as female specimens of the so-called tongue-worm L. serrata, which was confirmed by pairwise alignment and phylogenetic analysis of the produced sequences. We report an unusually severe case of L. serrata infection in an imported dog and discuss the spread of this potentially dangerous parasite in central and northern Europe.
旋毛虫是一种具有动物源性的虫形寄生虫，栖息在犬科动物的鼻腔中。尽管大多数旋毛虫病与非特异性和相当轻微的呼吸道症状有关，但在动物和人类中，也有不常见的感染和严重病程的病例报告。在中欧和北欧，这种病原体以前只是零星出现，然而，在过去几年中，检测到的病例数量明显增加。2020 年 7 月，一只大约 9 个月大的狗从罗马尼亚进口，因持续恶化的咳嗽而在德国中部哥达的一家兽医诊所就诊。尽管进行了抗生素治疗，但咳嗽还是变得更加严重，直到狗咳出了多个虫形结构。其中三个标本被送到寄生虫学研究所（莱比锡大学兽医学院，莱比锡）进行形态学和遗传物种鉴定。后者基于线粒体细胞色素 c 氧化酶亚基 I 基因（cox1）的 1000 个碱基对片段和完整的核 18S rRNA 基因。本研究中介绍的狗患有严重的呼吸道疾病，其上呼吸道中栖息着虫形寄生虫。检测到的寄生虫在形态上被鉴定为所谓的舌形虫 L. serrata 的雌性标本，这通过产生的序列的成对比对和系统发育分析得到了证实。我们报告了一例在进口狗中发生的旋毛虫感染的异常严重病例，并讨论了这种潜在危险寄生虫在中欧和北欧的传播。
