ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Parasitology
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Wildlife Parasitology and Host-Pathogen DynamicsView all 6 articles
Unusually low infection rate of Dirofilaria immitis in its wildlife hosts by the northern border of the Mediterranean climate zone in Hungary
Provisionally accepted
- 1Soproni Egyetem, Sopron, Hungary
- 2HUN-REN Okologiai Kutatokozpont, Budapest, Hungary
- 3Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gödöllő, Hungary
- 4Zselic Wildlife Estate, Kaposvár, Hungary
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Wildlife-originating zoonotic pathogens represent a special form of human-wildlife conflict. Disease spillover and spillback can cause health damage to both sides. Canine heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) is considered a climate-sensitive parasite due to the special environmental demands of its mosquito vectors. Abundant wild mesocarnivores in Europe, the golden jackal (Canis aureus), the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and Eurasian badger (Meles meles) are frequently accused of being a natural reservoir for the parasite. This study investigated the heartworm infection rate in the populations of jackals (N=305), foxes (N=361) and badgers (N=29) by the northern border of the Mediterranean climate zone and, despite the suitable climatic conditions, found unusually low prevalence in these hosts (2.3% in jackals, 1.4% in foxes, 0% in badgers). Analysis of the spatial distribution of infection confirmed that temperature and local socioeconomic development influenced the disease occurrence significantly. Precipitation and land use did not show any impact on the epidemiology of canine heartworm in wild caniforms. These results suggested that wild carnivores are sentinels of D. immitis spilled over from the domestic cycle rather than vice versa.
Keywords: Red fox, Golden jackal, European badger, Dirofilaria immitis, Hungary
Received: 22 Jul 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Nagy, Nagy, Csivincsik, Halász, Moloi, Nagy and Tari. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Gábor Nagy
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