Why Use the Mini-FLOTAC to Detect Metastrongyloid Larvae in Dogs and Cats?
PURPOSE
Canine and feline cardiopulmonary disease is an emergent condition in several European countries, particularly in non-endemic regions, although it is often underestimated because of the limitations of the common diagnostic techniques. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of Mini-FLOTAC to detect cardiopulmonary larvae from dogs and cats compared to reference techniques such as Baermann and FLOTAC.


METHODS
A total of 20 fresh faecal samples were collected from ten dogs and ten cats naturally infected with Angiostrongylus vasorum, and Aelurostrongylus abstrusus and Troglostrongylus spp., respectively. Three replicates were performed for each technique. FS3 (zinc sulfate, specific gravity = 1.200) was used as flotation solution for Mini-FLOTAC and FLOTAC. The results were expressed as the arithmetic mean of LPG (larvae per gram of faeces).


RESULTS
The mean LPG calculated by means of Mini-FLOTAC was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that obtained through the Baermann technique for A. vasorum, A. abstrusus and Troglostrongylus spp., whereas it was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that obtained through the FLOTAC technique only for A. vasorum and A. abstrusus.


CONCLUSIONS
Mini-FLOTAC can be considered a valid alternative for the detection of metastrongyloid larvae of dogs and cats, overcoming the limitation of time required by the Baermann test.
['Ianniello|Davide|D|', 'Pepe|Paola|P|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3908-4251', 'Alves|Leucio Camara|LC|', 'Ciuca|Lavinia|L|', 'Maurelli|Maria Paola|MP|', 'Amadesi|Alessandra|A|', 'Bosco|Antonio|A|', 'Musella|Vincenzo|V|', 'Cringoli|Giuseppe|G|', 'Rinaldi|Laura|L|']
D000801:Angiostrongylus D000818:Animals D002371:Cat Diseases D002415:Cats D003937:Diagnosis, Differential D004283:Dog Diseases D004285:Dogs D005243:Feces D007814:Larva D008681:Metastrongyloidea D011660:Pulmonary Heart Disease D017206:Strongylida Infections
Mini-FLOTAC Dogs Cats Cardiopulmonary diseases Diagnosis