Veterinary Medicine - August 2008 - (Page 422b)

the time spent outside or traveling, heartworm preventive use, and annual testing vary among dogs. For this reason, local wildlife serves as a more accurate prevalence marker for an area, says Ben Sacks, PhD, director for the Canid Diversity and Conservation Group at the University of CaliforniaDavis, Davis, Calif. Dr. Sacks says wild canids make great sentinels for canine heartworm disease because they are found in rural and urban environments, are outdoors year-round, are not on preventives, and have not come from or traveled to Louisiana for example. To evaluate the recent change in prevalence and distribution of heartworm infection in California, Dr. Sacks compared the prevalence in coyotes within three foothill regions, throughout two time periods. His study showed that from 1975 to 2002, the heartworm prevalence in coyotes increased anywhere from 7% to 33% in these foothills.4 The prevalence in wildlife also can be an indicator that heartworms are endemic in parts of the western United States. In a 2006 survey led by Dwight D. Bowman, DVM, MS, PhD, on heartworm prevalence, testing, and prevention in 11 western states, 6,585 surveys were distributed and 1,101 of those (16.7%) were completed. Results showed that 68% of the 2,224 heartwormpositive cases occurred in local dogs (see Table 1). Sixty-two percent of the total heartworm cases in local dogs occurred in dogs with no history of travel outside their local area. Each state reported heartworm positive cases.5 Increasing testing Both the American Heartworm Society and the Companion Animal Table 1. Survey of heartworm disease prevalence, testing, and prevention protocol in 11 western states.5 State Number of canine heartworm cases 177 1290 289 16 27 22 122 161 63 51 6 2224 Number (percent) of cases from outside the area* 49 (27.7) 204 (15.8) 155 (53.6) 16 (100) 17 (63.0) 21 (95.5) 31 (25.4) 53 (32.9) 28 (44.4) 48 (94.1) 6 (100) 628 (28.2) Number (percent) of cases with unknown background 7 (4.0) 48 (3.7) 2 (0.7) 0 0 0 12 (9.8) 15 (9.3) 0 0 0 84 (3.8) Number (percent) of all local cases** Number (percent) of local cases in dogs with no history of travel 95 (78.5) 90 (68.2) 0 9 (90.0) 0 41 (51.9) 84 (90.3) 20 (57.1) 2 (66.7) 0 Percent of clinics testing dogs annually 47.2 51.0 50.0 10.3 24.5 33.3 42.1 29.5 21.2 4.7 29.4 Percent of clinics routinely recommending heartworm preventive 92.5 82.5 90.2 33.3 61.2 44.4 94.7 79.5 87.9 22.7 35.3 73.6 Arizona California Colorado Idaho Montana Nevada New Mexico Oregon Utah Washington Wyoming Total 121 (68.4) 132 (45.7) 0 10 (37.0) 1 (4.5) 79 (64.8) 93 (57.8) 35 (55.6) 3 (5.9) 0 1038 (80.5) 594 (57.2) 1512 (68.0) 935 (42.0) *Dogs with a history of residence outside of immediate geographic area. **Dogs born and raised in the immediate geographic area. Incomplete information; some questions returned were left unanswered.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Veterinary Medicine - August 2008

Veterinary Medicine - August 2008 Contents Editors' Note Leading Off ClinQuiz Idea Exchange Practical Matters Diagnosing and Treating Canine Copper-Associated Hepatopathies Canine and Feline Demodicosis CE Form Advertiser Index Product Preview Marketplace/Classifieds Mind Over Miller

Veterinary Medicine - August 2008

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