Prevalence of Dirofilaria immitis in dogs in Jamaica

Dirofilaria immitis is a zoonotic vector-borne parasite that causes heartworm disease most commonly in canines. Although present in the Caribbean, no published work exists from Jamaica. Therefore, the aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of D. immitis in Jamaica. From June to December 2022, whole blood samples from 1000 dogs were collected from all parishes and tested using the Bionote Canine Heartworm Antigen Test Kit 2.0. Dogs that were at least 6 months old, privately owned, residing in shelters, working in the security sector, or strays were recruited into the study. Details on the breed, known or approximate age, sex, use of heartworm prophylaxis, and other medications and location of animals were provided by owners/authorizing agents and recorded. Test results were available for 986 dogs of which 184 tested positive, with an overall prevalence of 18.7% (95% CI, 16.28 to 21.24). Mature adults (2-6 years) comprised most of our sampled population (46.7%), followed by early seniors (7-9 years) (20.1%) and young adults (13-24 months) (9.9%). Prevalence for those age groups was 21.9%, 19.5%, and 7.1%, respectively. A seropositivity of 25.1% was seen in dogs not on heartworm preventative medication compared to 5.5% of dogs on heartworm preventative medication. Our study highlights a higher seroprevalence of D. immitis infections in older dogs and provides evidence supporting the use of preventive medication in the country.