Subcutaneous dirofilariosis is a zoonotic disease emerging throughout Europe caused by the filarial nematode Dirofilaria repens. Despite its increasing prevalence, there is a large gap in knowledge of the impact of the parasite on the host. Currently classified as being non-pathogenic, recent evidence suggests that skin dirofilariosis is associated with dermatological conditions including concomitant pruritus, neoplastic processes, inflammation, and even blindness in dogs and humans. The aim of this study was to determine if natural canine D. repens infection leads to biological changes in the canine host. In a real-life veterinary clinic setting, animals are often presented to clinicians for unrelated issues, and D. repens is incidentally identified during inspection. As such, we compared hematological and biochemical parameters of 218 uninfected and 197 dogs naturally infected with D. repens. Interestingly, animals infected with D. repens had lower numbers of lymphocytes (p < 0.001), red blood cells (p < 0.001), and thrombocytes (p = 0.025), decreased hematocrit (p < 0.001), and increased alkaline phosphatase (p = 0.016) and creatinine activity (p = 0.023) compared to uninfected dogs. We further selected a subpopulation of 214 dogs having prima facie hematological and biochemical results within normal reference ranges to evaluate the effect of D. repens infections in seemingly healthy dogs. Among these patients, 93 dogs infected with D. repens had lower numbers of lymphocytes (p = 0.031), red blood cells (p = 0.025), and hematocrit (p = 0.002), higher glucose levels (p = 0.023), and border line elevated alkaline phosphatase levels (p = 0.054) compared to 121 uninfected animals. Despite being categorized as asymptomatic, we have observed hematological and biochemical changes associated with D. repens infections in dogs, and our data suggest that dirofilariosis may induce a state of chronic stress. These results link the presence of skin dirofilariosis to biological changes in the canine host, suggesting a mechanism for pathogenicity and shedding new light on the host–parasite relationship.

皮下铁丝丝虫病是一种由丝虫线虫引起的人畜共患疾病 白粉菌。尽管其流行程度不断增加，但有关寄生虫对宿主影响的知识仍有很大差距。目前被归类为非致病性，最近的证据表明皮肤铁丝丝虫病与皮肤病有关，包括狗和人的瘙痒，肿瘤性发展，炎症甚至失明。这项研究的目的是确定天然犬白毛丹感染导致犬宿主的生物学变化。在现实生活中的兽医诊所环境中，通常会将动物带给临床医生以解决不相关的问题，并且白毛丹在检查过程中偶然发现的。因此，我们比较了218只未感染的狗和197只自然感染的狗的血液学和生化指标白毛丹。有趣的是，动物感染了白毛丹 淋巴细胞数量较少（p <0.001），红细胞（p <0.001）和血小板（p = 0.025），血细胞比容降低（p <0.001）和碱性磷酸酶增加（p = 0.016）和肌酸酐活性（p= 0.023）与未感染的狗相比。我们进一步选择了214只狗的亚群表面相 在正常参考范围内的血液和生化结果，以评估 白毛丹看似健康的狗感染。在这些患者中，有93只狗感染了白毛丹 淋巴细胞数量较少（p = 0.031），红细胞（p = 0.025）和血细胞比容（p = 0.002），更高的葡萄糖水平（p = 0.023），并且边界磷酸碱性磷酸酶水平升高（p= 0.054），而未感染动物为121。尽管被归类为无症状，但我们已经观察到与白毛丹犬感染，我们的数据表明，铁丝虫病可能诱发慢性应激状态。这些结果将皮肤铁丝丝虫病的存在与犬宿主的生物学变化联系起来，表明了一种致病性机制并为宿主与寄生虫之间的关系提供了新的思路。