Dirofilaria immitis could be a risk factor for the development of allergic diseases in humans.
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The Canary Islands are hyperendemic for canine heartworm and the risk of zoonotic infection is high. Additionally, there is evidence of development of allergies due to nematode infections in animals and humans. Since the population of the Canary Islands presents high prevalence of allergic comorbidities, and previous studies have shown a possible relationship between allergies and seropositivity to heartworm, the aim was to evaluate whether exposure to heartworm may contribute to the development of allergies in the human population. First, an epidemiological study was conducted on 248 owners of dogs with/without heartworm infection in the Canary Islands. Secondly, a serological analysis of the presence of total IgE and specific IgE against heartworm was conducted in 66 samples of inhabitants of the Canary Islands. The survey showed that allergic owners had heartworm-positive dogs more frequently (p < 0.01). Of the analyzed human samples, 43.9% were seropositive to heartworm and Wolbachia. Total IgE concentrations were increased in 34.5% seropositive samples and 8.1% seronegative samples. Specific IgE against heartworm was only found in human seropositive samples (17.2%). Contact with heartworm may be a risk factor for the development of allergic diseases, although further studies to elucidate the relationship between heartworm and allergies should be carried out.
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From a One Health perspective, the high circulation of the parasite in dogs, together with the presence of vectors adapted to indoor and urban environments, may increase the risk not only of canine heartworm disease but also of human pulmonary dirofilariasis and other parasite-related hypersensitivity phenomena in exposed populations.
“From a One Health perspective, the high circulation of the parasite in dogs, together with the presence of vectors adapted to indoor and urban environments, may increase the risk not only of canine heartworm disease but also of human pulmonary dirofilariasis and other parasite-related hypersensitivity phenomena in exposed populations (30).”
From Deciphering the socio-environmental factors associated with realized heartworm transmission risk in dogs from Portugal and Spain (2026) · cites this paper as [30]
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References 42 · Cited by 7
- Authors
- Montoya-Alonso, J. A., Morchón, R., Matos, J. I., Falcón-Cordón, Y., Costa-Rodriguez, N., & Carretón, E.
- Affiliations
- Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ES)
- Universidad de Salamanca (ES)
- Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences (IUIBS), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
- Corresponding author
- Carretón, Elena
- ORCID
- Venue
- Animals
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2020-10-11
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1847
- ISSN
- 2076-2615 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7601753
- OpenAlex
- W3092269653
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 0.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Animals (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Acceda (Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información (ProID2017010111)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Parasitic Diseases Research and Treatment
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Parasitology › Parasites and Host Interactions
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Helminth infection and control
- Keywords
- Dirofilaria immitis, canine heartworm disease, allergic diseases, zoonoses, IgE, specific IgE, Wolbachia, dog owners, Canary Islands
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