title: Impacts of urbanisation level and distance from potential natural mosquito breeding habitats on the abundance of canine dirofilariosis.
abstract: Dirofilariosis is an emerging mosquito-borne veterinary and medical problem in the Northern hemisphere. The ecological investigation of 56 canine dirofilariosis cases in new endemic locations was performed in Szeged, Hungary. The aim was to analyse the influence of the spatial patterns of dog abundance and the potential mosquito breeding habitats on the spatial occurrence patterns of dirofilariosis in the city of Szeged. The limnoecological characterisation was based on the fluvial habitat classification of Amoros of natural water bodies; the built environment was evaluated using the UrbanisationScore urbanisation intensity measuring software. Dirofilaria immitis accounted for 51% and D. repens for 34.3% of the dirofilariosis cases, and in 20% of the cases only the Knott's test was positive. It was concluded that most of the cases were related to locations with a medium to high urbanisation index, although the proximity of mosquito-bearing waters also played an important role in the observed spatial infection patterns. We found that the distance from potential mosquito habitats and the urbanisation intensity determine the abundance of dirofilariosis in urban environments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Limnology, University of Pannonia , Egyetem utca 10, H-8200 Veszprém , Hungary.|MTA-PE Limnoecology Research Group , Veszprém , Hungary.
authors.forename: Attila
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trájer
authors.affiliation: Small Animal Clinic of Szeged , Szeged , Hungary.
authors.forename: Antal
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rengei
authors.affiliation: Institute for Soil Sciences and Agricultural Chemistry, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences , Budapest , Hungary.
authors.forename: Kinga
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Farkas-Iványi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences , Vácrátót , Hungary.|Department of Garden and Open Space Design, Faculty of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, Szent István University , Budapest , Hungary.
authors.forename: Ákos
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Bede-Fazekas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002947:Cities; D009033:Culicidae / Q000502:physiology*; D004184:Dirofilariasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D004285:Dogs; D006814:Hungary / Q000453:epidemiology; D009032:Mosquito Control; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Amoros classification; Dirofilaria immitis; Dirofilaria repens; urbanisation intensity