Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Dirofilaria sp. and Blood Meal Analysis in Mosquitoes Collected in Vojvodina and Mačva, and the First Report of Setaria tundra (Issaitshikoff &Amp; Rajewskaya, 1928) in Serbia

Sara Šiljegović
ORCID logo ,
Theo Mouillaud
,
Davy Jiolle
,
Dušan Petrić
,
Aleksandra Ignjatović-Ćupina
ORCID logo ,
Ana Vasić
ORCID logo ,
Christophe Paupy
ORCID logo ,
Mihaela Kavran
* ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 9 April 2024 / Approved: 10 April 2024 / Online: 11 April 2024 (04:07:56 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Šiljegović, S.; Mouillaud, T.; Jiolle, D.; Petrić, D.; Ignjatović-Ćupina, A.; Vasić, A.; Paupy, C.; Kavran, M. Dirofilaria sp. and Blood Meal Analysis in Mosquitoes Collected in Vojvodina and Mačva, and the First Report of Setaria tundra (Issaitshikoff & Rajewskaya, 1928) in Serbia. Animals 2024, 14, 1255. Šiljegović, S.; Mouillaud, T.; Jiolle, D.; Petrić, D.; Ignjatović-Ćupina, A.; Vasić, A.; Paupy, C.; Kavran, M. Dirofilaria sp. and Blood Meal Analysis in Mosquitoes Collected in Vojvodina and Mačva, and the First Report of Setaria tundra (Issaitshikoff & Rajewskaya, 1928) in Serbia. Animals 2024, 14, 1255.

Abstract

Dirofilaria immitis and D. repens are the two most widespread and important species of mosquito-borne nematodes, posing a significant threat to veterinary health, particularly affecting canines and felines. While D. immitis causes cardiopulmonary dirofilariasis, D. repens causes subcutaneous infections in dogs and other carnivores. Despite extensive knowledge about the aforementioned parasites, little is known about their natural vectors in Serbia. Thus, the aim of this study was to: i) further map out Dirofilaria sp. hotspots in the Vojvodina Province, ii) detect positive mosquito species which can provide insights in how the nematodes spread and adapt to the environmental conditions, and iii) analyze the blood fed mosquitoes females of species found infected to identify the potential source of parasite infection. A total of 2,902 female mosquitoes were collected across 73 locations during 2021 and 2022. Molecular biology methods, based on conventional PCR, were used to analyze non-blood fed (2,521 specimens) and blood fed (381 specimens) mosquito females, in order to detect filarial nematode presence and identify blood meal sources respectively. When the parasite genome was detected, the amplicon (COI gene, 650 bp fragment) was sent for Sanger sequencing, further confirming the presence of nematodes and species assignation. D. immitis was detected in three Culex pipiens mosquitoes collected in XXXX (location and date), while Setaria tundra was detected in Aedes vexans and Aedes caspius. This work adds two new locations where D. immitis occurs in Vojvodina, and is the first report of S. tundra on the territory of Serbia. Blood meal analysis provided insights into the preferences of mosquitoes that were positive for Dirofilaria sp. and S. tundra.

Keywords

Dirofilaria sp.; Setaria tundra; mosquito surveillance; Cox1 gene

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Animal Science, Veterinary Science and Zoology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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