Incidence of canine heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) in Malaysia

A total of 764 adult dogs were examined for microfilariae and adult worms of D immitis and 197 (25-8 per cent) were found to be infected. Direct blood examinations revealed only 47-2 per cent of the infected dogs whereas the blood serum examination detected 57-8 per cent of them. These results showed that the absence of circulating microfilariae could not be relied upon to be an accurate indication of the absence of patent heartworm infection. The average number of heartworms per dog was 5-5 with a range of one to 50.